(_From the Jullienne engravings from Watteau, British Museum_).] To return, however, to “Les Fêtes Vénitiennes.” The score of this ballet, or rather “opera-ballet,” was published by the great French printer Ballard in 1714, and an examination of it reveals further possibilities of its having influenced not only the picture of the same name, but the “Bal sous une Colonnade,” “Le Concert,” and possibly others of Watteau’s composition, just as yet others might have been partly inspired by Monteclair’s ballet “Les Fêtes de l’Eté,” published in 1716, and Bertin’s “Les Plaisirs de la Campagne,” published in 1719. “Les Fêtes Vénitiennes” was in four acts or _entrées_, with a prologue. The third act was entitled “De l’Opéra,” and opens with a music-lesson, practically the rehearsal of a duet between Léontine, the prima-donna, and her music master, just before the production of a miniature opera; and the fourth is headed “Du Bal.” The stage directions for this are: “_Le Théâtre représente un lieu préparé pour un Bal_”; and in a bragging duel between the music-master and the dancing-master the latter boasts: “Je scais l’art de tracer aux yeux Les sons qui frappent les oreilles,” which the other counters by saying that he can raise a storm musically, which he proceeds to do, giving a musical representation of the rising wind, of thunder, and so on. This, however, is by the way. The one thing important is that there _are_ these two acts devoted to illustrating the charms of music and the dance, that the opera contains an “air pour les Arlequins,” an “air des Polichinelles,” an “air Champêtre,” and closes, as several other ballets of the period also did, with a sort of _divertissement_, introducing the Italian players, and a general gathering of all the _dramatis personæ_ on the stage while the dances of this _divertissement final_ are in progress; all of which suggests the “Bal sous une Colonnade” of Watteau. Monteclair’s “Les Fêtes de l’Eté” is of special interest in that it was produced in 1716. In 1717 Watteau, after requests from the Academy authorities, painted his diploma picture, the immortal “Embarquement pour Cythère.” It would seem that Monteclair’s ballet contains the first suggestions which culminated in that picture. It is in three acts, with a prologue, and the stage directions for this are: “_Le Théâtre représente une Campagne dont les beautés commencent à fletrir: Le Printemps y paroit environné d’Amants et Amantes qui lui font la cour._” In the course of the act one of the lovers, expatiating on this charm of their surroundings, sings: “_Et la mère du Dieu des Amants a quitté Cythère pour ces lieux charmés._”