Word: chastel
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...greatest paintings in the Western world," wrote Critic Pierre Schneider. "After the great Christ paintings of the Renaissance, this is the first nonreligious painting of an expiatory personage, a self-sacrifice figure." Adds Critic Andre Chastel, "Gilles has a poetic charm akin to Shakespeare. In fact, every time I look at it, I am reminded of Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream...
Rivals in Pleasure. That Gilles should remind Chastel of Bottom is no surprise, for both play essentially the same comic role. In the commedia dell' arte farces so popular in Watteau's day, Gilles, or Pierrot, was the simple-wilted country bumpkin, often a servant who pointed out the follies of his master and for his audacity got his ears boxed. But Watteau's dignified, wistful figure is aimed not at burlesque. In all probability it was intended as a portrait of a patron or friend...
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