(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 :. | Die Champs Elyssees | Unknown work | The Fortune Tellers | en rokokodam | Gilles and his Family |
Related Artists:
George Cope
American, 1855-1929
john banister
Banister was a violinist, composer and flageolet player for the English court. Much of his life was astir with accusations and innuendo. Nevertheless, he was able to remain in the King's service until his death and a great demand was laid upon him for his "play" songs.
Charles Lebrun
French Pand art Theorist , Paris1619-190 Virtual dictator of the arts in France until the death of Colbert in 1683. He established his reputation by a series of decorative schemes, and his own greatest compositions, which immortalize the achievements of the crown, are at Versailles. He became a founder, rector, chancellor, and finally director of the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. He was also director of the Gobelins factory and Premier Peintre (1664). His Tent of Darius (1661), for Louis XIV, is a model of legibility, with the explicit and varied gesture and expression of the figures deriving from ideas expressed by Poussin. Lebrun's influential treatise,