Mezzetin
Antoine Watteau
c. 1716
Medium
red and black chalk counterproof on laid paper
Dimensions
support: 43.8 x 23.6 cm (17 1/4 x 9 5/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Beatrice Beck Fahnstock
Accession Number
1963.12.1
About the Artist
Antoine Watteau · 1684–1721
Jean-Antoine Watteau, born in 1684 in Valenciennes to a modest family—his father a roofer named Jean-Philippe Watteau—was the second of four sons who displayed an early passion for art. After initial apprenticeship under local painter Jacques-Albert Gérin, he moved to Paris around 1702, working in workshops copying Flemish and Dutch genre scenes. By 1705, he entered the studio of Claude Gillot, ab...