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Mezzetin by Jean Antoine Watteau is named for the stock type character the portrait portrays.
Mezzetins were musical, comical characters in the commedia dell’arte, an Italian genre of theatre that Watteau certainly watched when they came through Paris.
Watteau loved the theatre and drew inspiration for his paintings from them often. The commedia dell’arte was a somewhat unique genre, as it was mostly improvisational. Actors would have some general idea of a story, usually one of unrequited love, but most of the action and lines were improvised. We know this man with the guitar is the mezzetin, mostly because of his outfit - the classy stripey shirt, the cape, the guitar, and the sexy floppy hat and ruffle collar, me-OW!
Mezzetins were generally silly, pulling pranks and playing plenty of lovelorn songs. They even had their own little bits, so I’m sure they were as annoying as the usual drama student in real life. His rosy complexion, intense expression and muscular calves and hands show a real intensity to this portrayal, and we can guess he is right in the middle of a particularly heartbreaking little ditty about a lost love. Probably that statue in the back represents the Mezzetin’s love interest, who with her backed turned is telling him what I should’ve told the improv guys I’ve met through tinder- Nah dude.
It’s not all sad though, look at him rolling his eyes in a way only my middle school self could compete with, clearly he is more exasperated at the statue than really in love with it. This painting is a bit smaller, as it was designed for richy-riches who started collecting art around the time Watteau was working. By this time, no one had been saved from the traveling improv group and it would be easy to recognize the goofball in this painting as a general character.
This painting was special though. Besides it’s very expressive subject and pretty pink fabric, it was eventually owned by Catherine the Great. Why she’d invite an improv guy into her tasteful home is lost on me, but I’m not bitter.
Sources
Sources
- "Mezzetin." Metmuseum.org. Accessed March 29, 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/34.138/.
- Meagher, Jennifer. “Commedia dell’arte.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (July 2007). http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/comm/hd_comm.htm
- Wehle, Harry B. "Le Mezzetin by Antoine Watteau." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 30, no. 1 (January 1935): 12-18. Accessed March 29, 2019. JStor
- Baetjer, Katharine, and Cowart, Georgia. Watteau, Music, and Theater. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.
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Here is what Wikipedia says about Mezzetino (Watteau)
Mezzetino (transl. Mezzetin; French: Mézetin) is an oil-on-canvas painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, by the French Rococo painter Jean-Antoine Watteau. Dated within 1717–1720, Mezzetino forms a full-length single-figure composition, depicting the eponymous character in commedia dell'arte. In the 18th century, Mezzetino was owned by Jean de Jullienne, the friend and patron of Watteau who supervised the four-volume edition of prints after the artist's works, for which the picture was engraved by Benoit Audran the Elder; after Jullienne's death in 1766, it was acquired for the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, then recently established by Empress Catherine II of Russia. During the Soviet sales in the 1920s and 1930s, Mezzetino was sold to British-American businessman Calouste Gulbenkian; it was later sold to the Wildenstein art firm in Paris and New York, from which it was bought in 1934 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains; the institution also owns a preparatory study—a drawing of the man's head.
Mezzetino was a comedy character, based on Harlequin but with his own distinctive costume, who was introduced for the first time by the Théâtre italien de Paris actor Angelo Costantini on October 16, 1683. Constantini's expressive face allowed him to portray the role without a mask, a tradition kept alive by all successive Mezzetinos. That novelty attracted Watteau, who featured Mezzetino in several of his works. In the picture, Mezzetino is playing his guitar and singing, his eyes lifted as if towards an unseen balcony. The statue of Venus behind him is facing away, suggesting that his feelings are not shared by the lady she represents. Although the model for Mezzetino is not known, the fact that Jean de Jullienne, who, while selling a number of Watteau's works through his life, still kept Mezzetino, suggests he may have fulfilled the role.
Check out the full Wikipedia article about Mezzetino (Watteau)
i thought that was a hot pic of me in high school: angsty, pink hair, drama improv theatre kid, guitar, weird outfit