When, therefore, we find in works _other_ than those avowedly theatrical, a repetition of certain details which _are_ found in those dealings obviously with the theatre, it may be conceded, perhaps, that the direct influence of stage scenes and stage effects upon his art was somewhat more extensive than might be thought merely from a study of those pictures which are ostensibly studies of dramatic types and subjects; and for an instance we may take the introduction of a group of Italian comedians among the bystanders in the “Bal sous une Colonnade,” already referred to. They need a little looking for amid so many figures, but when discovered one might question what Pierrot, Arlequin and their fellows are doing “dans cette galère.” When we come, again, to consider the picture called “Le Concert” (in the Wallace Collection) and find, in the central figure, a striking likeness to another picture by Watteau of “Poisson” in the costume of a peasant: and observe also a repetition of a scenic detail such as the terrace-columns, which are similar to those of the Colonnade: further noting that the treatment of the distance between these same columns is strangely suggestive of the flatness of a stage “back-cloth,” it begins to seem not improbable that we have here a pretty faithful translation of actual stage scenes. In one of these, the “Fêtes Champêtres,” also known as “Les Fêtes Vénitiennes” (in the National Gallery, Edinburgh), it is possible that we have a clue. Can it be mere coincidence that from 1710--the year after Watteau had become a student at the Academy--one of the most popular and most frequently revived ballets at the Opera was Campra and Danchet’s “Les Fêtes Vénitiennes?” True, Watteau must be presumed to have been at Valenciennes from about the end of 1709 until shortly before 1712, when he took up his abode with Crozat, but the ballet was revived again _in_ 1712; not to mention a _pastiche_ called “Fragments de Lulli,” which included an _entrée_ entitled “La Vénitienne,” produced in January, 1711, which, as has already been suggested, was the more likely time than 1712 for Watteau’s return to town after his stay at Valenciennes. At this time, in any case, there were several productions at the Opera which may have easily proved an influence in the thoughts of an impressionable young artist. It was in 1712 that two operas were produced, namely, “Créüse l’Athénienne” and “Callirhoé,” the libretti of which were by Roy, whose stanzas form the inscriptions already referred to as appearing under the engravings of “L’Amour au Théâtre Français” and “L’Amour au Théâtre Italien.” In one of the few of Watteau’s letters quoted by the Goncourts is one to Gersaint in which Antoine accepts an invitation to go “avec Antoine de la Roque,” and dine next day. It is not insignificant that the first opera of which De la Roque was librettist was produced in April, 1713, and entitled “Médée et Jason.” [Illustration: Les Plaisirs du Bal