Standing Girl; barefoot, lifting her skirt, ca. 1715 – 1717

About the Work

Drawn in the three-chalk technique (in red, black and white), the young girl looks towards the floor and takes a cautious step. She wears no more than a petticoat and chemise – in other words is almost undressed – and by lifting her skirt perhaps she is meant to look as if she was about to step into water. The artist’s friend Comte de Caylus rented a room in Paris in which he and Watteau made drawings of female nudes. The academy did not offer such liberality, but confined itself to male models.