Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), cat. 39D.
Cailleux, “A Strange Monument” (1975), 247.
Rosenberg and Prat, Watteau, catalogue raisonné des dessins (1996), cat. 163.
Eidelberg, “How Watteau Designed His Arabesques” (2003), 71-72, 79 n. 25, 27.
Michel, Le «célèbre Watteau» (2008), 184.
RELATED DRAWINGS
Watteau, Study of Two Seated Women, red chalk, 16.4 x 20 cm. Whereabouts unknown.
The shepherdess with hands followed together in L’Heureux moment is based on a red chalk drawing (Rosenberg and Prat 163) that recently appeared at auction (Paris, June 16, 2020, lot 65).
REMARKS
Louis Crépy fils after Watteau, L’Heureux moment, engraving.
Jean Moyreau after Watteau, La Favorite de Flore, engraving.
In the Jullienne Oeuvre gravé, the engraving after L’Heureux moment is paired with the one after La Favorite de Flore. Both are horizontal arabesques with central medallions, but little else in common. Their whorls and garlands are dissimilar. Although they both feature a central circular medallion, the one in L’Heureux moment is oval and horizontal, while that in La Favorite de Flore is more circular. Also, the figures differ in scale, with the single woman in La Favorite de Flore much larger than the pair in L’Heureux moment. Within Watteau’s sets of arabesques there often is great diversity between the separate panels, but here the disparities are striking.
Louis Crépy fils after Watteau, L’Heureux moment, engraving.
Louis Crépy fils after Watteau, Le Berger content, engraving.
On the other hand, another of Watteau’s arabesques, Le Berger content, is essentially a fraternal twin to L’Heureux moment. They share the same structure of garlands and leafy flourishes, and they have similar central medallions with comparable pastoral vignettes. Interestingly, both were engraved by Louis Crépy fils. Could these two Watteau arabesques have been pendants? It is quite possible. They are closer to each other than either is to La Favorite de Flore.
As can be expected, the scholars who have considered L’Heureux moment have disagreed about its date. Adhémar placed it c. 1708-09, and Macchia and Montagni preferred c. 1709, but Rosenberg and Prat dated the drawing of the two women to c. 1712, which implies that the painting was still later.
The caption beneath the engraved image declares “Watteau pinxit,” but there is no record of such a painting, not in eighteenth-century lists or in more modern inventories or sale catalogues.
