Satyrs Behaving Badly: Watteau’s Human Animals

This essay examines and compares Watteau’s approach to crafting satyrs and the human males that resemble them both in body and, especially, in their impulsive, animalistic actions. The demi-gods known as satyrs were a familiar presence in European art and literature extending from classical antiquity; their close association with fertility and lewdness evidently stemmed directly from their half-goat, half-human corporality. Al-though as an artist specializing in pastoral scenes of fashionable and theatrical sociability, Watteau did not have many occasions to paint mythological subjects, satyrs occupy a notable place among his drawings. These include both studies after other artists and an unusual group of drawings from the nude male model. I compare Watteau’s treatment of the satyr with certain aggressive males in his fêtes galantes, arguing that these satyric characters destabilize the humanism of his gatherings. Watteau’s improvisatory approach to composition moreover fostered an unusually egalitarian treatment of human and nonhuman animals.