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拍品专文
Nicolas Vleughels (1668-1737) was an artist, teacher and administrator, and like his close friend Watteau, of Flemish origin. He must have sat frequently for Watteau, as his likeness appears in several drawings that were used either portrait-like or as stock poses in his paintings. Vleughels can easily be recognized by his long, bony nose, narrow, slanted eyes, high forehead and receding, double chin. Watteau would often make sketches of his friends, sometimes dressed in costume, and then use them in his paintings.
Vleughels is seated and playing the violin in the present drawing. Watteau used the same pose with differences to the facial features and minor variations to the costume in his painting Le prélude au concert now in the Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin (Fig. 1; P. Rosenberg, 1984, op. cit., no. 48). His sideways glance in the drawing is directed in the painting towards the sheet music open on the lap of the woman to the right of the violinist. There are three other drawings by Watteau related to this painting. Girl seated with a book of music on her lap corresponds to the woman to the right of Vleughels in the painting (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum; Rosenberg and Prat, op. cit., II, no. 590). Two studies of a violinist tuning his instrument (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; ibid., no. 594) are for the musician seen behind and between Vleughels and the seated woman. Finally, a sheet of studies at the Louvre includes a sketch of the seated girl playing with a dog (Inv. 33366; ibid., I, no. 229) for the child seated on the floor in the foreground of the painting.
Vleughels's posed for at least three other drawings by Watteau - (ibid., nos. 338, 600, and 638). He appears again in paintings, this time more prominently, and in different guise in the pendant to Le prélude au concert, The charms of life (Wallace Collection, London). In Les charmes de la vie he stands behind the musicians, leaning on the back of a chair, a listener, not a participant in the concert. The physiognomy is closer to Vleughel's own than in the Wallace Collection figure. He also appears in Fête vénitienne of circa 1718 (Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland).
Vleughels' role as a sitter for Watteau's drawings from life and his appearance in various paintings is testament to the close friendship between the two who were also roommates in Paris around 1717-18. Since the two men are documented as having crossed paths since at least 1716, and may have known each other even before that, it is difficult to date with precision when the present drawing and its associated painting were executed. These two Flemish artists may have met as early as 1702 when Watteau first arrived in Paris, where Vleughels already lived before his first sojourn in Italy. They would have certainly met soon after his return in 1715 as Vleughels was a member of the Académie where Watteau was received on 28 August 1717. While not as well-known, or indeed, as gifted an artist as Watteau, Vleughels had a significant career of his own in the art world during Watteau's lifetime, and after his friend's untimely death in 1721, at the age of 37. Vleughels returned to Rome in 1724 and became Director of the Académie de France at the Palazzo Mancini, a position he held until his death in 1737. During his tenure as director he taught some of the most important French artists of the 18th Century including Michel-François Dandré-Bardon, Charles-Joseph Natoire, Pierre Subleyras and Carle Vanloo.
Vleughels is seated and playing the violin in the present drawing. Watteau used the same pose with differences to the facial features and minor variations to the costume in his painting Le prélude au concert now in the Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin (Fig. 1; P. Rosenberg, 1984, op. cit., no. 48). His sideways glance in the drawing is directed in the painting towards the sheet music open on the lap of the woman to the right of the violinist. There are three other drawings by Watteau related to this painting. Girl seated with a book of music on her lap corresponds to the woman to the right of Vleughels in the painting (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum; Rosenberg and Prat, op. cit., II, no. 590). Two studies of a violinist tuning his instrument (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; ibid., no. 594) are for the musician seen behind and between Vleughels and the seated woman. Finally, a sheet of studies at the Louvre includes a sketch of the seated girl playing with a dog (Inv. 33366; ibid., I, no. 229) for the child seated on the floor in the foreground of the painting.
Vleughels's posed for at least three other drawings by Watteau - (ibid., nos. 338, 600, and 638). He appears again in paintings, this time more prominently, and in different guise in the pendant to Le prélude au concert, The charms of life (Wallace Collection, London). In Les charmes de la vie he stands behind the musicians, leaning on the back of a chair, a listener, not a participant in the concert. The physiognomy is closer to Vleughel's own than in the Wallace Collection figure. He also appears in Fête vénitienne of circa 1718 (Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland).
Vleughels' role as a sitter for Watteau's drawings from life and his appearance in various paintings is testament to the close friendship between the two who were also roommates in Paris around 1717-18. Since the two men are documented as having crossed paths since at least 1716, and may have known each other even before that, it is difficult to date with precision when the present drawing and its associated painting were executed. These two Flemish artists may have met as early as 1702 when Watteau first arrived in Paris, where Vleughels already lived before his first sojourn in Italy. They would have certainly met soon after his return in 1715 as Vleughels was a member of the Académie where Watteau was received on 28 August 1717. While not as well-known, or indeed, as gifted an artist as Watteau, Vleughels had a significant career of his own in the art world during Watteau's lifetime, and after his friend's untimely death in 1721, at the age of 37. Vleughels returned to Rome in 1724 and became Director of the Académie de France at the Palazzo Mancini, a position he held until his death in 1737. During his tenure as director he taught some of the most important French artists of the 18th Century including Michel-François Dandré-Bardon, Charles-Joseph Natoire, Pierre Subleyras and Carle Vanloo.