# An Embarrassing Proposal [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [WATTEAU, Antoine]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 65 x 85 cm ## Commentary An Embarrassing Proposal c. 1716 Oil on canvas, 65 x 85 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg One of the gallant scenes in which Watteau precisely captured the 18th-century's theatricalized view of the world shows not a stage production but people dressed and behaving in a theatrical manner, perceiving the world and themselves as a performance. Most important here is the atmosphere, the figures dissolved in the landscape, the general haze of colours, in which the shades of sky, foliage, and expensive fabrics coexist on equal terms. ## Related artworks - [A Halt During the Chase]() - [A Seated Woman]() - [Actors from the Comédie Française]() - [Actors of the Comédie-Française]() - [An Embarrassing Proposal \(detail\)]() - [Back of Woman]() - [Cajoler]() - [Ceres \(Summer\)]() - [Chinese Musician and Chinese Woman]() - [Chinese Woman of Kouei Tchéou]() - [Diana at her Bath]() - [Faun]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()