Engraving Pierrot, formerly known as Gilles - Jean-Antoine Watteau

Jean-Antoine Watteau is a French artist recognized as the inventor of the fête galante genre in painting. His artistic education began in the theater, where he apprenticed as an engraver and set designer at Claude Gillot's workshop. In this depiction of Pierrot, a famous character from Italian comedy, the artist gives clues to his time at the theater. He masters the art of disguise and knows the emblematic figures of commedia: at the foot of the clown are Léandre and Isabelle, the lovers, the Capitan, a boastful soldier, and, emerging from the shadows, the Doctor. The virtuosity of Watteau's Pierrot lies in his ability to question appearances. Beyond his bewildered look and flailing arms, Pierrot seems imbued with a melancholy reflection. The paradoxical ambiguity in this mature work allows the artist, embodied by Pierrot, to express his own disillusionment with the world, and a meditation on the vanity of things.

Dimensions of the sheet (cm): H. 56 × W. 76

Dimensions of the plate (cm): H. 51 × W. 39