Jean-Antoine Watteau (October 10, 1684 ? July 18, 1721) was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement (in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens), and revitalized the waning Baroque idiom, which eventually became known as Rococo. He is credited with inventing the genre of f?tes galantes: scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with an air of theatricality. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet.
Watteau was born in the Flemish town of Valenciennes, which had just been annexed by the French king Louis XIV. His father was a master tiler of Flemish descent. Showing an early interest in painting, he was apprenticed to Jacques-Albert G?rin, a local painter. Having little to learn from G?rin, Watteau left for Paris in about 1702. There he found employment in a workshop at Pont Notre-Dame, making copies of popular genre paintings in the Flemish and Dutch tradition; it was in that period that he developed his characteristic sketchlike technique.
Little known during his lifetime beyond a small circle of his devotees, Watteau "was mentioned but seldom in contemporary art criticism and then usually reprovingly". Sir Michael Levey once noted that Watteau "created, unwittingly, the concept of the individualistic artist loyal to himself, and himself alone". If his immediate followers (Lancret and Pater) would depict the unabashed frillery of aristocratic romantic pursuits, Watteau in a few masterpieces anticipates an art about art, the world of art as seen through the eyes of an artist. In contrast to the Rococo whimsicality and licentiousness cultivated by Boucher and Fragonard in the later part of Louis XV's reign, Watteau's theatrical panache is usually tinged with a note of sympathy, wistfulness, and sadness at the transience of love and other earthly delights.
Watteau in the last year of his life, by Rosalba Carriera, 1721
(This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.)
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Watteau.jpg
The Embarkation for Cythera (Louvre version, 1717): Many commentators note that it depicts a departure from the island of Cythera, the birthplace of Venus, thus symbolizing the brevity of love.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/WatteauThe_Embarktion_for_Cythera.jpg
L'Enseigne de Gersaint (1720): In one of Watteau's last paintings, the portrait of Louis XIV and his own artworks are being packed away. The painter had no reason to expect that his name would be remembered long.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/WatteauGersaint.jpg
La Boudeuse from the Hermitage Museum: "Flirting coquettishly yet innocently, the artist's imaginary heroes ? the deliberately indifferent lady and her insistently attentive cavalier ? are shown with gentle irony. Their fragile, elegant world is dominated by a lyrical mood with just a touch of elegiac melancholy
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Watteau_LaBoudeuse.jpg
Jupiter and Antiope 1715-16 Oil on canvas, 73 x 107 cm (oval) Mus?e du Louvre, Paris
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/WatteauJupiter.jpg
Pilgrimage
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Watteau_Pilgrimage.jpg
Watteau was born in the Flemish town of Valenciennes, which had just been annexed by the French king Louis XIV. His father was a master tiler of Flemish descent. Showing an early interest in painting, he was apprenticed to Jacques-Albert G?rin, a local painter. Having little to learn from G?rin, Watteau left for Paris in about 1702. There he found employment in a workshop at Pont Notre-Dame, making copies of popular genre paintings in the Flemish and Dutch tradition; it was in that period that he developed his characteristic sketchlike technique.
Little known during his lifetime beyond a small circle of his devotees, Watteau "was mentioned but seldom in contemporary art criticism and then usually reprovingly". Sir Michael Levey once noted that Watteau "created, unwittingly, the concept of the individualistic artist loyal to himself, and himself alone". If his immediate followers (Lancret and Pater) would depict the unabashed frillery of aristocratic romantic pursuits, Watteau in a few masterpieces anticipates an art about art, the world of art as seen through the eyes of an artist. In contrast to the Rococo whimsicality and licentiousness cultivated by Boucher and Fragonard in the later part of Louis XV's reign, Watteau's theatrical panache is usually tinged with a note of sympathy, wistfulness, and sadness at the transience of love and other earthly delights.
Watteau in the last year of his life, by Rosalba Carriera, 1721
(This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.)
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Watteau.jpg
The Embarkation for Cythera (Louvre version, 1717): Many commentators note that it depicts a departure from the island of Cythera, the birthplace of Venus, thus symbolizing the brevity of love.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/WatteauThe_Embarktion_for_Cythera.jpg
L'Enseigne de Gersaint (1720): In one of Watteau's last paintings, the portrait of Louis XIV and his own artworks are being packed away. The painter had no reason to expect that his name would be remembered long.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/WatteauGersaint.jpg
La Boudeuse from the Hermitage Museum: "Flirting coquettishly yet innocently, the artist's imaginary heroes ? the deliberately indifferent lady and her insistently attentive cavalier ? are shown with gentle irony. Their fragile, elegant world is dominated by a lyrical mood with just a touch of elegiac melancholy
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Watteau_LaBoudeuse.jpg
Jupiter and Antiope 1715-16 Oil on canvas, 73 x 107 cm (oval) Mus?e du Louvre, Paris
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/WatteauJupiter.jpg
Pilgrimage
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Art%20Museum/Watteau_Pilgrimage.jpg