Design for the Divertissement from "La Pastorale" (First Entrée of the opera-ballet "Les Muses" by Danchet and Campra")

1703

pen and black ink and brush and gray wash with red, blue, and yellow wash, with graphite

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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland — check current display status with the museum.

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

This drawing represents the elaborate stage set for the opera-ballet Les Muses that premiered in 1703 at the Opéra, the most prestigious public theater in Paris. In a city that thrived on spectacle, the opera-ballet was one of the most fashionable forms of entertainment in the 18th century. Berain’s drawing relates to the third scene in the first of four acts, "La Pastorale," in which shepherds and shepherdesses pay homage to deities in a wooded grove. The celebration, accompanied by flutes and a musette (small bagpipe) comprised a lighthearted musical interlude or divertissement, an indispensable component of the opera-ballet.

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