Man in tricorn hat and overcoat, shown in frontal view and holding a staff with a winding vine, landscape with trees beyond
ca. 1710–39
Medium
Etching with engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 7 3/16 x 4 11/16 in. (18.3 x 11.9 cm) plate: 5 1/4 x 3 1/8 in. (13.3 x 8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.246
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of early 18th-century France this captivating etching and engraving, *Man in Tricorn Hat and Overcoat*, around 1710–39. Attributed to Antoine Watteau the master of Rococo fantasy, with engraving by Louis Desplaces, print depicts a dignified gentleman facing forward, clad in a tricorn hat and flowing overcoat. He grips a staff entwined with a winding vine evoking pastoral grace, while a serene landscape of trees stretches beyond, blending portraiture with idyllic nature. Watteau (1684–1721), renowned for his fêtes galantes—scenes of lovers and revelry in lush garden...
About the Artist
Antoine Watteau|Louis Desplaces · 1684–1721
Jean-Antoine Watteau, born in 1684 in Valenciennes to a modest family—his father a roofer named Jean-Philippe Watteau—was the second of four sons who displayed an early passion for art. After initial apprenticeship under local painter Jacques-Albert Gérin, he moved to Paris around 1702, working in workshops copying Flemish and Dutch genre scenes. By 1705, he entered the studio of Claude Gillot, ab...