(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 :. | Les Charmes de la Vie | A Halt During the Chase21 | Head of a Man | Party of Four | A Love Festival |
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Alexander Mann
Alexander Mann (January 22, 1853 - January 26, 1908) was a Scottish landscape and genre painter. He was a member of New English Art Club and Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Alexander Mann was born in Glasgow, Scotland on January 22, 1853. He died in London on January 26, 1908. The second son of James Mann, merchant and collector, he took drawing lessons from the age of ten with Robert Greenlees (1820-94) and then attended evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art, where Greenlees was headmaster. In 1877 he went to Paris and enrolled at the Academie Julian, and then studied under Mihely Munk? - sy and from 1881 to 1885 under Carolus-Duran. From 1883-93 Mann exhibited in London at the Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Fine Art Society, New Gallery, Ridley Art Club, New English Art Club and Society of British Artists, a society that appointed James McNeill Whistler its President in 1886. At the same year he was invited to become the first Scottish member of the New English Art Club and was joined by several of his friends, notably John Lavery, Thomas Millie Dow of the Glasgow Boys and Norman Garstin. Influenced by the Hague school and by Jules Bastien-Lepage, his picture A Bead Stringer, Venice gained an honorable mention at the Salon in 1885. After a public controversy over this painting when it was exhibited at the Royal Glasgow Institute, Mann settled in England, at West Hagbourne, Berkshire, and later in the neighboring village of Blewbury, where he painted a series of views of the Downs and portraits of country people. Mann traveled extensively in Britain, paying several visits to the coast in Angus and Fife, and to Walberswick, Suffolk.
Alfred Chalon
English 1780-1860 Swiss-British painter and illustrator. Much of what we know about the look of romantic ballet is owed to his lithographs and illustrations. He was Taglioni portraitist and his 1845 lithograph of the Pas de quatre, with Carlotta Grisi, Marie Taglioni, Lucile Grahn, and Fanny Cerrito, is one of the most famous images in all dance.
Petere Lely
painted Julia Fasey, Lady Crewe in 17th century