Painting Detail
Actors of the Comedie-FrancaiseArtist: Jean-Antoine Watteau
Medium: Painting, Oil on panel, 20x25 cm
Date: 1711 - 1712
Genre: Genre Painting, Theatre
Source: Collection of baron L.A. Crozat de Tierra, Paris, 1772
This tiny composition consists of four virtuoso portraits displaying both character and vivid immediacy. Only the head of the young black boy is a stock image, like the roles he probably performed on stage.
Since the 18th century the painting has had eight different titles, among them Actors of the Italian Comedy, since the subjects were identified with the heroes of the famous Commedia dell'Arte. We know the names of all the actors, except for the girl in the striped dress: to the left, the young woman in a high cap is an actress who won the hearts of all with her acting skill and marvellous voice, Christine Antoinette Charlotte Desmars; opposite her is Pierre Le Noir La Thorilliere, who studied under Moliere himself and was famous for his comedy roles; the young man in the beret is the Philippe Poisson, who played opposite Mlle Demares in Les trois cousines. This kind of group portrait is a rare exception in the work of Antoine Watteau.