Cathy's Art Diary

Charming exhibition at the British Museum focusing on drawings by Watteau from their collection. These were delightful, delicate works. They explained how Watteau would draw the people around him in the streets and reuse and combine the images in his paintings. He also produced finished drawings for collectors. As ever in the print galleries the labels were clearly written and explained Watteau's use of drawing but also used the chronological display to outline his life and career. I felt I came out of the show appreciating Watteau a lot more as I sometimes find the paintings a bit twee. My fact of the day was that he was born in an area of France which had been Flemish and there is a real feel of Dutch genre scenes in his him work. Favourites included this lovely back view and the way he uses the stripes to reflect the shape of the body below and this picture of two maids which he drew when in England for a year. Closed 17 September 2025

Delightful all day course from the London Art History Society on French 18th century artists Watteau and Chardin. Clare Ford-Willie began with a good overview of art in France in the century before to set the scene and to pinpoint where some of the themes of the later artists came from. At times she did gloss over some of the history assuming we knew it but she had provided a good handout with more of the detail which helped those of us who in true historian tradition can say “it’s not my period. She then looked at the work of each artist separately as they work in very different genres. She talked about how Watteau was born in a Flemish area and how we can see the influence of this in his work. She talked about the decorative work he did and then his pictures of contemporary people in autumnal landscapes and his use of Commedia dell’arte figures. We moved onto Chardin and looked at his still-lives and talked about how he liked placing shapes together, simplifying the composition...

Exhibition of exquisite drawings by Watteau at the Royal Academy . I must admit I’m not a fan of 17th century French paintings but these drawings seemed to have more immediacy and life than the paintings. It was a nicely arranged exhibition with a good tape tour which told you just enough without getting bogged down. It explained well how he moved from using red chalk, to black and red and finally to black, red and white and the difference those techniques made. I loved the studies of heads from different angles arranged beautifully on a page. My favourite picture was a study of the back of a woman sitting on the ground which showed in detail the elaborate draping of her dress. Reviews Daily Telegraph Independent Evening Standard