Colour and Line : Watteau Drawings

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


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