Focus on this artwork and discuss the Description.
The main dancer who occupies the center of the painting would be the actress Christine Charlotte Desmares, who was the lover of the Duke of Orleans, with whom she had had, in 1702, a bastard daughter, Angélique de Froissy.
The dancer in the black hat facing her has been identified as Nicolas Vleughels, Flemish painter, friend and owner of Watteau, who rose to the rank of director of the Academy of Rome (1725–36). His clothing seems humorous and is perhaps inspired by Italian comedians, which would explain the title distributed by the engraver Laurent Cars.
Behind this couple dancing the minuet, sit a whole series of participants. The painter himself represented himself seated, as a musician holding a kind of bagpipe, also called a musette. Since the Middle Ages, the bagpipe was recognized as an instrument of sexual symbolism; Jêrome Bosch included it as such in his famous triptych of the Garden of Earthly Delights. Another cavalier is courting a lady and two other ladies are talking to an actor. Behind, we see another couple, standing in front of a fountain.
Watteau treats various materials in a similar way, both taffeta and water, people and statues, foliage and curls, thus succeeding in giving unity to the painting.
Laurent Cars Charlotte Desmares F Nicolas Vleughels minuet G