(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 :. | Portrait of a Gentleman1 | Pilgrimage to Cythera1 | Le Singe sculpteur | Harlequin and Columbine | Elyssees |
Related Artists:
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
J. A. D. Ingres (1780-1867) was born in Montauban on August 29, 1780, the son of an unsuccessful sculptor and painter. French painter. He was the last grand champion of the French classical tradition of history painting. He was traditionally presented as the opposing force to Delacroix in the early 19th-century confrontation of Neo-classicism and Romanticism, but subsequent assessment has shown the degree to which Ingres, like Neo-classicism, is a manifestation of the Romantic spirit permeating the age. The chronology of Ingres's work is complicated by his obsessive perfectionism, which resulted in multiple versions of a subject and revisions of the original. For this reason, all works cited in this article are identified by catalogue.
Joseph E.Southall
1861-1944
Nicolas Mignard
(1606-1668) was a French 17th Century painter. He spent most of his active life in Avignon and was the older brother of Pierre Mignard. Nicolas Mignard was born in Troyes in 1606. There, he studied painting with a local master. After traveling to Fontainebleau, Mignard came to Avignon in 1632. He then traveled to Rome with Cardinal Archbishop of Lyon. Mignard came back to Avignon in 1636, after having executed multiple series of etching in Rome. There, he mostly painted for religious institutions. Mignard spent the end of his life in Paris, where he became a successful portrait painter. Mignard left Paris after a visit of King Louis XIV and his Court in Avignon. King Louis XIV decided to bring Mignard to Paris. Mignard eventually joined the Academie Royale. Mignardes spending most of his life in Avignon made his career somewhat overshadowed by his little brother Pierre, who was installed in Paris. After his death, paintings by Nicolas Mignard mostly stayed in Avignon or in small cities around Avignon. During the French Revolution, as these paintings were taken over, most of them were attributed to Pierre Mignard. His art is now rediscovered. His style is typical of the Italianate classicizing aesthetic that dominated seventeenth-century France, and obviously was very much influenced by French classical Baroque painter Poussin. Nicolas Mignard died in 1668 in Paris.