The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 16, 2025
The Clothes are Italian
1715–16
(French, 1684–1721)
(French, 1645–1728)
Platemark: 30.5 x 21.3 cm (12 x 8 3/8 in.); Sheet: 37.2 x 26.9 cm (14 5/8 x 10 9/16 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 2011.11
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 performances. Before the print’s publication, Jean-Antoine Watteau’s etched composition was finished by professional engraver Charles Simonneau. While Simonneau’s precise dots and crosshatched lines clarify the details of the print, the spontaneity and freedom of Watteau’s etched lines better express the sense of whimsy and play that characterizes the subject matter.- François Heugel, Paris, b. 1922 (Lugt 3373)?–2011(Susan Schulman Printseller, New York, NY, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)March 7, 2011–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).
- {{cite web|title=The Clothes are Italian|url=false|author=Jean-Antoine Watteau, Charles Simonneau|year=1715–16|access-date=16 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2011.11