Seated Young Woman

Watteau is best known for his rapidly executed figure studies in trois crayons, using red, black, and white chalks. This sheet is an exceptional example of his mastery of the technique and embodies such immediacy and energy that one does not notice at first that the artist did not include the lower half of the woman's right leg and foot and failed to indicate the base on which she is seated. Trimmed from a larger sheet, the original may have included multiple studies.