''The Embarrassing Proposal'' is a 1715-1716 painting by
Antoine Watteau. It was part of
Heinrich von Brühl
Heinrich, count von Brühl ( pl, Henryk Brühl, 13 August 170028 October 1763), was a Polish-Saxon statesman at the court of Saxony and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and a member of the powerful German von Brühl family. The incumbency of ...
's collection in
Dresden before being purchased in 1769 under
Catherine II of Russia
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
for the
Hermitage Museum, in
Saint Petersburg, where it still hangs.
It shows a landscape with three young women and two young gallants. X-ray examination has shown the canvas was previously used for a composition with four people, including a woman playing a guitar and a young man, in the position now occupied by the three seated figures.
Exhibition history
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
* (p
80 cat. no. 130.)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
''An Embarrassing Proposal''at the Hermitage's official website
at the
Web Gallery of Art
1710s paintings
Paintings in the Hermitage Museum
Paintings by Antoine Watteau
{{18C-painting-stub