Le motif de la mélancolie dans quelques peintures représentant des jardins de Jean-Antoine Watteau

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the notion of melancholy in relation to representations of gardens in some of Jean-Antoine Watteau’s works. We propose to look at two of his paintings that are probably less well-known than his fêtes galantes or Pierrot, namely La Boudeuse [A Capricious Woman] (1718) and La Perspective [The Perspective] (around 1715). After a brief overview of some philosophical and art-historical ideas relating to melancholy, we will turn to an analysis of the elements in the two paintings, including the parks and gardens, in order to examine the pictorial representation of melancholy and the ways in which it manifests itself.