The Embarrassing Proposal

The Embarrassing Proposal is a 1715-1716 painting by Antoine Watteau. It was part of Heinrich von Brühl's collection in Dresden before being purchased in 1769 under Catherine II of Russia for the Hermitage Museum, in Saint Petersburg, where it still hangs.

The Embarrassing Proposal
Artist	Jean-Antoine Watteau
Year	ca. 1715–1716
Catalogue	H 130 (132); G 158; DV 274; R 129; HA 142; EC 146; RM 189
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	65 cm × 84.5 cm (26 in × 33.3 in)
Location	The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Accession	ГЭ-1150

It shows a landscape with three young women and two young gallants. X-ray examination has shown the canvas was previously used for a composition with four people, including a woman playing a guitar and a young man, in the position now occupied by the three seated figures.

Exhibition history

List of major exhibitions featuring the work

Year	Title	Location	Cat. no.	References
				Primary	Secondary
1955	An Exhibition of French Art of the 15th-20th Centuries	Pushkin Museum, Moscow	*	[1]	[2]
1956	An Exhibition of French Art of the 12th-20th Centuries	Hermitage Museum, Leningrad	*	[3]
1972	Watteau and His Time	Hermitage Museum, Leningrad	4	[4]
1984–1985	Watteau 1684–1721	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin	P. 39	[5]
1988	French Paintings from the USSR	National Gallery, London	2	[2]
2005–2006	Russia!	Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City	44	[6]
"*" denotes an unnumbered entry.