Fêtes Venitiennes

An especially sensual nude sculpture overlooks a gathering of elegant people in a parkland setting at dusk. To the tune of a musette (small bagpipe) played by the musician in shepherd’s dress at far right, a man in exotic costume and a woman in the elegant fashion of the day perform a stately dance. Rendered in fine brushstrokes and soft, sparkling tones, this celebrated work evidently had personal meaning for the artist. Technical analysis shows that at a late stage in its execution, Watteau gave the features of his close friend the Franco-Flemish painter Nicolas Vleughels to the strutting male dancer and his own to the lovelorn musette player — perhaps an allusion to a competition between the two men for the affection of the same woman, or a risqué joke.