The Dance (Iris)

This painting, presumably originally horizontally oval, derived its ambiguous title from a quatrain added to Charles- Nicolas Cochin’s reversed reproduction engraving dated c. 1726 (?). The monumental figure of a girl is placed in front of a low horizon. Elegantly dressed shepherd boys, one of them even playing a musical instrument, are eagerly waiting for the dreamy coquette’s dance to begin. The neutrality of the theme is further supported by props depicted in the left, the “valiant” shield with arrow, which are to be read as anticipating the deployment of feminine charms. The dress is made of typical 1718 English printed silks. Watteau presumably painted the picture during his only trip abroad, to England in 1719/20. Like almost all his works, this one, carried by its muted colours, is essentially ornamental. The painting was purchased by Frederick the Great before 1769, and was found in the estate of his brother, Prince Heinrich, in Schloss Rheinsberg, in 1802.