So remember how I found this antique 18th century wallpaper while renovating my aunt’s old house? I was doing some research for another post this evening and I came across this painting by the 18th Century French Roccoco painter Antoine Watteau that bears a strong resemblance to one of the wallpaper scenes...
La Lesson de L’Amour / The Lesson of Love. Watteau, 1716, oils
Isn’t it beautiful? There was another part which matched as well, that’s even more intruiging.
Les Agréments de l’été / The Pleasures of Summer. Joullain, 1732, engraving
As you can see, the detail is pretty amazing, but the image is mirrored. In fact, this engraving was made by Joullain in reverse from an original piece by Watteau of the same name - but this original painting has been lost for a couple of hundred years. *All* the painting reproductions we have of Les Agréments de l’été follow Joullain’s reversed direction, which is curious if the original painting was still around for a while after.
The image on the wallpaper, however, follows the direction of Watteau’s original piece, and so we can guess that the pattern must have been made by someone who had access to the original painting. Time to do some more research!