Jan Willem Rosier, The Minuet

by Atelier Liesjes

In a long, gold-adorned ballroom, a couple are dancing the minuet. The woman is wearing an ivory-white silk dress with a train that curls across the parquet floor; her powder-blonde hair is pinned up high and her hand rests lightly in her partner’s. He is wearing a yellow silk jacket, an embroidered white waistcoat, black knee-length trousers and white stockings, and bows his head towards her. On the left, an orchestra is playing: a cellist in dark green, violinists in reddish-brown and a young woman behind a painted harpsichord. On the right, guests are seated along the wall; ladies in rose-white, pale yellow and sea-green brocade, each holding a fan; gentlemen in brown and olive-green coats stand behind them. At the back stands a niche containing a marble statue; a large landscape tapestry hangs above the heads of the figures. In the foreground stands a small stool with an ermine cloak draped over it; fresh rose petals lie scattered on the floor. Rosier depicts the eighteenth century as a stage play: the costumes have been meticulously reconstructed, the postures are those of dancers, and the gazes are staged. Yet it is no cold historical piece. The warm, golden light gliding across the floor and the loose brushstrokes in the train of the dress lend the scene an air that is both festive and wistful. The style is both academic and Rococo Revival, as was favoured in Belgian salons during the nineteenth century. The theme is courtly dance, etiquette and the fleeting splendour of a celebration that is already over by the time it is painted. Jan Willem Rosier (1858–1931) was a Belgian painter who worked in Antwerp and specialised in elegant eighteenth-century genre paintings and portraits. His ‘Minuet’ is housed in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, where several of his portraits are also held.