Watteau Weekend

A certain Rococo artists seems to have taken New York City by storm. Everywhere I went last weekend it was Watteau, Watteau, Watteau! Three different museums had three different exhibits where Jean-Antoine Watteau was a key player.

Watteau to Degas: French Drawings from the Frits Lugt Collection, The Frick Collection
Our first stop on our Watteau walk was to The Frick. I enjoy the Frick; it has a fabulous collection housed in an amazing turn of the century house. This leaves little room for exhibition space. Exhibitions are held in the two rooms of the collection's basement. The first room contains various drawings and sketches from Watteau and his contemporaries. Then you walk in the second room and suddenly it's works from the following century. Whoa, wait, huh? Oh yeah, it's called Watteau to Degas. Strangely enough there is only one Degas and it was in the style of the Italian Renaissance. It was almost as if they couldn't fill their exhibition space completely with Watteau's contemporaries so they spanned into the 19th century. I love the Frick Collection but this exhibit was not a show-stopper.

Watteau, Music, and Theatre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This exhibition is nearing its close which is too bad because it was quite amazing. Why the Met decided to only host it for two months, is beyond me. Anyone who is familiar with Watteau is aware that music an theatre were the man's muse. This exhibition helps to explain his inspiration with not just Watteau's paintings (from collections all over the world) but with other works such as prints of ball scenes and operas and instruments from the era. If you have to opportunity to see this exhibition before it ends on 29 November, I highly suggest racing over to the Met. Lauren wrote a rave review of it and the show was my favourite of the three Watteau exhibitions we attended.

Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings, The Morgan Library
Yes, it doesn't have Watteau in the title but the Morgan's exhibition of 18th century French drawings has no shortage of the artist's work. Also containing works from Fragonard, Lancret, Boucher, David, and many others, this exhibition takes up a large, open gallery in the Morgan Library. There is a lovely variety in the subject matter of the drawings ranging from still-lifes to interiors, to human form studies, all done with the delicate lines we tend to think of in Rococo art. The best part of the exhibition is it housed in the same venue as A Women's Wit, the Jane Austen exhibition, so you will be able to check out there two amazing shows at once!

Commedia Dell'arte

If you've seen a Watteau painting you should be vaguely familiar with the Commedia dell'arte aka the Italian Comedy. The Commedia was a a popular improvisational play that was popular from the fifteenth century onward. The play would take place in the great outdoors. Theatre troupes would tour the countryside performing the plays for eager audiences of different classes. The play had a lot of impact on the eighteenth century. The most popular masquerade costumes were based on the Commedia and, as I mentioned before, many of Watteau's paintings. Although the storyline would alter, a few things stayed the same such as the subject matter and characters. Here are some of them:

Arlecchino aka the Harlequin- The mischievous clown/acrobat who is hopelessly in love with the ballerina, Colombina. He can usually be identified by his diamond outfit, a wooden bat, and a cat-like mask with a wart on it.

Brighella- A rogue whose always scheming to make some cash

The Captain- The stereotypical soldier

The Doctor- The stereotyped doctor very pompous and very plump.

Pantalone- The old miserly Venetian merchant. Pantalone usually has a long pointed beard and red pants. For extra commedic effect he is sometimes accompanied by a young and pretty wife.

Colombina- The saucy ballerina who is crafty, clever, and untamed. She would usually introduce or initiate the plot. Usually her white ballerina gown would have diamond patches to show her connection to Arlecchino. She was one of the few characters who tended to remain unmasked.

Innamorati (Innamorato and Innamorata)- The lovers who can't keep their hands off each other are usually decked out in the most fashionable dress of the time.

La Ruffiana- The gossipy old woman who maliciously attempts to keep the lovers apart.

Pedrolino- The faithful servant and target for physical jokes at his own expense. Pedrolino dresses in a white, puffy outfit with a ruff.

La Signora- Sometimes Pantalone is married to this matriarch who also happens to be the mistress of Pedrolino. She is over the top (think: Lady Gaga) and wears heavy makeup and wide skirts which cause her to walk with her arms out.

Pulcinella- As Lucy has added, "The tricky and always up for schemes- long-nosed hunchback."