Portrait of a young man by Watteau de Lille around 1760

Rare drawing representing a young man in mid-bust, three-quarter view.
He wears a vest, a scarf and a tricorn hat which he sports over a “Cadogan” hairstyle, that is to say with a long ponytail tied with a ribbon.
Two large rollers of hair called “hammers” frame her delicate face whose intense gaze fixes the viewer.

Beautiful state of conservation.

Charcoal, stump and white chalk on brown paper.

Work attributed to Louis-Joseph-François dit Watteau de Lille* around 1760-1765.

Dimensions:

Frame: Height: 35 cm; Width: 31 cm

Leaf: Height: 22 cm; Width: 18 cm

Origin :

-On the reverse of the work, a label from the Galerie Jacques Seligmann in New York mentions that the drawing is attributed to Watteau of Lille and was exhibited under the number “42” during the “Master Drawings” exhibition from 7 to 28 November 1960.


Bibliography:

E.Cleray, “Some drawings by François Watteau, art and artists”, August 1909.
G.Maës, “the Watteaus of Lille”, Paris, 1998

Our opinion :

Our drawing probably represents a young soldier working in the army of King Louis XV.
If the wearing of the tricorn hat and the Cadogan hairstyle gradually became more popular in the second part of the 18th century, they often remained military attributes widely used by infantry soldiers.
The technique used for our work demonstrates the extreme talent of the man who would become a drawing teacher at the Lille school.
With just a little charcoal that he hatches and blurs, he manages to make us guess the density of the felt of the hat or the lighter density of the vest.
The precision of the features of the mouth, nose and eyes forms a very clear axis in a more blurred environment; this forces the gaze of the viewer who is invited to have a tête-à-tête with the young soldier.
A few touches of white chalk tell us about the color and softness of the linen scarf while others imitate the natural reflection of oblique light.
This effect makes the subject's face illuminated and takes it from the state of a drawing to that of a living work.
With very few resources and only two colors Watteau de Lille gives us a captivating and particularly pleasant portrait.
The quality and prestigious provenance of our drawing make it a beautiful collector's work that will delight any fan of graphic arts from the old regime.


*Louis-Joseph Watteau (1731-1798), more commonly known as "Watteau de Lille", is the nephew of Antoine Watteau, painter of galantes. Louis-Joseph Watteau was born in 1731 in Valenciennes. We have little information on the masters of young Louis-Joseph; it is possible that he was the apprentice of Guillaume Lefebvre, Gabriel-François Doyen or even Jacques Dumont. He subsequently continued his training at the Royal Academy of Paris. He returned definitively in 1756 to Valenciennes, on the occasion of his father's funeral. From then on he established himself as a true artist in his hometown by owning his own workshop and regularly hiring apprentices. In 1765, Louis-Joseph Watteau left for Lille, with the aim of expanding his clientele. His beginnings in Lille were difficult, but he gradually gained official positions, which allowed him to establish his reputation in the city. Thus, in 1778, he was appointed as a drawing teacher at the Lille drawing school. This allowed him to gradually become the most prominent painter in the city, and to receive numerous commissions, both private and public. Louis-Joseph Watteau was also one of the main actors in the founding of the Academy of Valenciennes in 1783, and was extremely involved in the safeguarding of paintings confiscated at the start of the Revolution. This also allowed him to be the initiator of the city museum in 1745. Louis-Joseph Watteau died in 1798 in Lille, rue des Arts.