Kaleidoscope Volume 3 Article 11 October 2015 The aM squerade in Watteau and Marivaux Alexis Redish University of Kentucky Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/kaleidoscope Part of the French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Redish, Alexis (2004) "The asM querade in Watteau and Marivaux," Kaleidoscope: Vol. 3, Article 11. Available at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/kaleidoscope/vol3/iss1/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Office of Undergraduate Research at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Kaleidoscope by an authorized editor of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Color/ 6 page insert AUTHOR Alexis Redish am a senior majoring in French, I and Foreign Languages and Inter- national Economics (FLIE). I am an The Masquerade Honors Student and a member of the Golden Key International Honour Soci- in Watteau and ety, and Pi Delta Phi French Honor So- ciety. I have received a Bluegrass Merit Marivaux Scholarship for all four years and the Zembrod Scholarship in Spring, 2003. In addition, I have Abstract been on the Dean’s list for each semester of my four years at the University and have been placed on the National The bourgeois French of the 18th century were Dean’s List. I graduate in May of 2004. I plan to return to characterized by a social code that required a France in the Fall of 2004 to teach English and, following certain manner of speech and action in the areas this, perhaps pursue my masters in French, perhaps with a of dress, love, parties, and childhood. Following special interest in the 18th and 19th century, comparing lit- these rules rendered one elegant, charming, and erature to other artistic expressions. elite, in addition to ensuring social success and In the beginning, this study was written in French for proving one’s inner nobility. The comedic works a class on the Commedia dell’Arte. In this course, I became of Marivaux and the breathtaking paintings of fascinated with the social commentary that was expressed through so many artistic media, specifically painting and Watteau’s collection La Fête Galante eloquently theatre. I loved writing the paper and studying the paint- summarize this mode of life. Under the guise of ings when I first wrote it in French. After this, I gained the art and entertainment, Watteau and Marivaux, experience of translating my own work into English and respectively, reveal the lifestyle and intentions of discussing the topic in greater depth. My faculty mentor the bourgeois community in the same indirect and I worked on the translation that I did and the organiza- manner by which that very community led their tion of the paper after it was translated. In addition, she lives. In his work, Arlequin, Poli par l’Amour, would give helpful input concerning the way in which I Marivaux introduces Arlequin into the masquer- expressed my ideas in the paper. ade lifestyle of the bourgeois and Arlequin slowly I am also a dancer in the UK Dance Ensemble, where I becomes accustomed to the requirements of this find an outlet for my creative expression as a classical, world of rules and fêtes, primarily as they apply modern, and contemporary dancer. I both perform and choreograph for the Dance Ensemble. In addition, I am to love. Watteau produced two works, La Danse, very involved in the work at my church, Quest Community which reveals a microcosm of the adult world Church, where I often dance, help with Sunday mornings, through children’s playtime, and Le Faux Pas, and work with the kids worship team. which gives insight into the rules of gallant love. Further examination and comparison of these modes of critique uncovers new commentary concerning the French bourgeois lifestyle of the 18th century. Mentor: Suzanne R. Pucci Professor of French Director of Graduate Studies in French This study explores important interdisciplinary parallels and intersections between painting and theatre in eighteenth-century France. Through careful analysis of two paintings of Watteau, La Danse and Le Faux Pas, and Marivaux’s captivating romantic comedy, Arlequin, poli par l’amour [Arlequin Polished by Love], the reader comes to understand conventions of love and sociability during this period as belonging to the realms of both the theatrical and the natural. The enchanting world of Watteau’s fête galante blurs the distinction between the country life of simple peasants and the pastoral amusements of courtly society, as does Marivaux’s world of the Italian Commedia in French context. Tableaux and text depict the changing roles and costumes of theatrical disguise. But this masquerade was harbinger a of a society poised to become more flexible in this new emphasis on shifting identities. One of the most interesting facets of this essay is not merely the concern with parallels between painting and literary text but those that Alexis shows to exist between these and the arts of dance and music within the paintings. Alexis Redish manifests her love of and commitment to the arts through her work as a dancer as well as through scholarly activity, which, when possible, relates literary and social concepts to the domains of art, music, and dance. THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP 55 Color/1st page of 6 page insert THE MASQUERADE IN WATTEAU AND MARIVAUX ALEXIS REDISH Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684, Valenciennes; 1721, Nogent sur Marne) La Danse (The Dance) Oil on canvas (97 x 116 cm) 1716-18 Dahlem, Staatliche Museen, Berlin Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684, Valenciennes; 1721, Nogent sur Marne) Le Faux Pas (The Mistaken Advance) Oil on canvas (40 x 31.5 cm) 1716-18 Musée de Louvre, Paris 56 K A L E I D O S C O P E F A L L 2 0 0 4 THE MASQUERADE IN WATTEAU AND MARIVAUX ALEXIS REDISH Early eighteenth century France included several so- In the same century, Jean-Antoine Watteau painted representations cial classes whose status was distinguished by their of this gallant upper class, using an impressionistic and dreamy style. mannerisms. For the French upper bourgeoisie and His paintings communicated a commentary on the social interactions of aristocracy, certain codes of self-presentation prevailed the upper class. Two paintings in particular also indirectly demonstrate in all aspects of social interaction. These codes in- the situations of Silvia and Arlequin. The first, La Danse or The Dance, formed conventions of dress as well as of communi- describes through its images the case of Arlequin as the Fairy attempts to cation and were especially conspicuous and detailed teach him the proper social codes. It contains children playing instru- in the rules of love. One had to appear gallant and ments and dancing outdoors. On the one hand, they seem to imitate maintain an air of charm and superiority. After a per- what they have noticed in the life of the adults. On the other hand, they son transforms him- or herself into an ideal member are practicing what they have been learning in their lessons. In their of society, he or she is said to have proven inner no- playtime, they imitate the artificial and gallant lifestyle they see in their bility (Plax, 2000, p. 112). In order for members of parents and superiors, which symbolizes their position in society (Plax, this society to follow this code of sociability, they must 2000, p. 118). take lessons, specifically in the areas of music, dance, The second painting, Le Faux Pas or The Mistaken Advance, shows and love. Many of these lessons were taught through a peasant man attempting to kiss a woman. The woman seems to push the example and advice of others more advanced in the man away, but one cannot be certain if she teases or if she truly the art of sociability. While, at the same time, other wishes to be left alone. If the former is the case, one could say that the lessons were taught through formal instruction. woman, like Silvia, follows those rules of love demanded by the high This was a strict and often hypocritical society, society of the period, to refuse advances of love in order to obtain it. for their actions were representations of the code of It seems that many questions can be asked relating to these paint- sociability more than an honest representation of their ings and the period. Are the children in La Danse really playing or are feelings. For example, in regard to love, a person must they practicing the artificial rituals of their upper class world? Concern- resist amorous advances and control his or her de- ing the painting Le Faux Pas, the status of the characters is questionable, sires in order to be gallant. Much literature of the because they appear to demonstrate the rules and conventions of the period dealt with teaching and learning how to un- upper bourgeois and aristocratic societies towards love. Are these char- derstand and how to assimilate these codes, how to acters really peasants of the countryside? This last question arises from practice the art of sociability. the following description. In the book, La Fête Galante: Watteau et In the romantic comedy by Marivaux, Arlequin, Marivaux, Robert Tomlinson cites Alfred Jeanroy to describe “the thirst Poli par l’Amour (originally written and performed as of sophisticated people for a simple life,” in precisely this way: a play in 1720), a magical fairy, representing the fash- ionable aristocracy of the time, kidnaps the main char- En somme la pastourelle a été en Provence ce acter Arlequin with whom she falls precipitously in qu’a presque toujours été la poésie pastorale: love.