Four Actors in Heroic Costume, with a Study of a Helmeted Head

Claude Gillot

ca. 1711–22 · Watercolor, pen and black ink, red chalk, and traces of black chalk · Drawings and Prints

Claude Gillot was primarily a graphic artist whose subjects included the theater and playful bacchanals. This sheet features studies of four figures in heroic costume with a reprise of a helmeted head. The use of delicate watercolor tints situates it within the larger tradition of costume designs for theater, by artists such as Jean Berain. Through his work, Gillot helped to popularize the commedia dell’arte and influenced his pupil, Antoine Watteau, whose fêtes galantes incorporated elements of theater into scenes of aristocratic leisure. Until 2004, the drawing was part of an album originally containing 39 drawings by the artist, all relating to the theater.

Artist

Claude Gillot

Date

ca. 1711–22

Medium

Watercolor, pen and black ink, red chalk, and traces of black chalk

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Stephen A. Geiger Gift, 2020