(1684?C1721). French painter of Flemish descent, b. Valenciennes. Until 1704 poverty forced him to work in the shops of mediocre artists, where he produced genre and devotional subjects. In 1704?C8 he studied in the studio of Claude Gillot, an adept painter of scenes of theatrical life, which later became the subject of some of Watteau's finest paintings, such as Love in the Italian Theatre and Love in the French Theatre (both: Berlin). In 1708?C9 Watteau worked with the decorator Claude Audran. Watteau attracted the attention of eminent patrons in his last years, including the comte de Caylus, his biographer, and in 1717 he was made a full member of the Acad??mie royale. The Embarkation for Cythera (1717; Louvre) is characteristic of his art; it is a delicate, courtly fantasy, represented in warm and shimmering pastel tones that place him among the great colorists of all time. A lyric, Giorgionesque quality pervades his airy, gay, and sensuous scenes, which have a poignancy that none of his followers attained. Out of the most fleeting aspects of life he created an enduring and individual art. His exquisite paintings influenced fashion and garden design in the 18th cent. Other outstanding works include Gilles (Louvre), Perspective (Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston), Mezzetin (Metropolitan Mus.), and Gersaint's Shop Sign (1719; Berlin).   Related Paintings of WATTEAU, Antoine :. | Gilles | Le Singe sculpteur | An Embarrassing Proposal | Les Champs Elys es | Italian Comedians21 |
Related Artists:
Charles Lock Eastlake
English Painter, 1793-1865 English painter, museum director, collector and writer. Fourth son of an Admiralty lawyer at Plymouth, he was educated at local grammar schools and then, briefly, at Charterhouse, Surrey. Determined to become a painter, he began work in 1809 as Benjamin Robert Haydon's first pupil and as a student at the Royal Academy Schools in London. In 1815 he exhibited for the first time at the British Institution, visited Paris and studied the pictures in the Musee Napoleon. He achieved his first conspicuous success with a scene from contemporary history that he had himself witnessed,
Jean - Leon Gerome
French, 1824 - 1904
Aragon jose Rafael
b.c.1795 d. 1862