The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

The Clothes are Italian

1715–16

Jean-Antoine Watteau

(French, 1684–1721)
France, 18th century
etching
Image and Plate: 27.5 x 20 cm (10 13/16 x 7 7/8 in.); Sheet: 30 x 20.9 cm (11 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2008.3
Catalogue raisonné: Dacier and Vuaflart 130
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Jean-Antoine Watteau’s compositions often reference theater and music.

Description

Actors dressed as stock characters from the Italian commedia dell’arte and the French popular theater take their final bow in this print. Known for their comic plots and improvisational satire, the Italian players were banned in France from 1697 until 1716 after one of their productions was thought to criticize King Louis XIV’s mistress. Still in demand with French audiences, some of the characters and stories were adapted into the less regulated popular performances. The sense of whimsy and play associated with this form of theater is mirrored by the spontaneity and freedom of the artist's etched lines.
  • Ex collections: D. David-Weill (sale Paris, June 3, 1950, lot 120 to Dr. A. Calabi, Milan);
    ?–2008
    Nicholas Stogdon, Oxfordshire, England, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    March 3, 2008–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 352
  • Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).
    Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
    Artists and Amateurs: Etching in Eighteenth Century France. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 1, 2013-January 5, 2014).
  • {{cite web|title=The Clothes are Italian|url=false|author=Jean-Antoine Watteau|year=1715–16|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.3