The Dreamer (La Rêveuse) (1712–14): Artwork and History

The Dreamer (La Rêveuse) (1712–14) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Jean Antoine Watteau (French, 1684–1721).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

The traditional title of this small painting, The Dreamer, derives from an engraving made after it, which was intended for sale to a wider audience. The work is one of a number of small figure paintings by Jean-Antoine Watteau in which the subject’s clothing was inspired by contemporary theater. Here, the woman wears a pseudo-Turkish costume, which reflects the Western European vogue for Turkish culture (“turquerie”) at that time. Watteau’s uniquely delicate, sensitive, and intimate style influenced a number of other painters throughout the 18th century.

Object facts

• Title: The Dreamer (La Rêveuse)
• Date: 1712–14
• Artist attribution: Jean Antoine Watteau (French, 1684–1721)
• Place of origin: France
• Medium: Oil on panel
• Dimensions: 23.2 × 17 cm (9 1/8 × 6 11/16 in.); Framed: 35 × 28.9 × 7 cm (13 3/4 × 11 3/8 × 2 3/4 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1960.305

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection

View the original

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.