Jean-Antoine Watteau was a French painter, who represented Rococo movement and revitalized interest in colour and movement by shifting Baroque style to the less severe, more naturalistic one. Much of his work reflects the influence of the commedia dell'arte and the opéra ballet. Moreover, Jean-Antoine invented the genre of fêtes galantes.
Background
Jean-Antoine Watteau was born on October 10, 1684, in Valenciennes, France. He was a son of Jean-Philippe Watteau, a prosperous roof tiler.
According to early biographers, Jean-Antoine's childhood was an unhappy one. Some biographers refer to Watteau's father as a hard man, strongly disinclined to accede to his son's wish to become a painter. But other accounts show him in a kinder light as a poor, struggling man, who secured for his son the best possible education.
Education
As a boy, Watteau was sensitive and susceptible to quick changes of mood, a voracious reader of novels and an avid music lover. He showed a penchant for making life studies of mountebanks, performing on the public square, and his parents placed him in the workshop of a local painter Jacques-Albert Gérin.
When Watteau was about 18, his father declined to continue paying for his apprenticeship, and the young painter moved to Paris, where he made his way, copying paintings for dealers.
During the period from 1704 till 1708, Watteau 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". In Gillot's studio, Watteau made such rapid progress, that he soon equalled and excelled his master, whose jealousy led to a quarrel, as a result of which, Watteau, and with him his fellow-student and later pupil, Nicolas Lancret, severed his connexion with Gillot and left his studio.
In the years, that followed, Jean-Antoine also studied the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens, Correggio and others, while garnering the patronage of collectors in Paris and abroad.
Career
In 1708, Watteau started to work with Claude Audran III, a famous decorative painter, who was at that time keeper of the collections at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Audran was a great decorator and Jean-Antoine is known to have assisted in some of his commissions for the King Louis XIV of France. Through Audran, Watteau also mastered his quick, supple line and his feathery brushstroke for foliage, figures and facial accents.
After Watteau won second place in the Royal Academy's competition for the Prix de Rome in 1709, he returned to Valenciennes for a brief visit and then brought with him to Paris a young colleague, the artist Jean Baptiste Pater, who followed, almost slavishly, Watteau's style and themes, especially the military subjects Watteau was painting during this period. The landscape and figure sketches Watteau made at this time constituted a repertory of motifs, which served him thereafter for his paintings, the arbitrary compositions of which precluded the necessity of his observing nature directly.
In 1710, Jean-Antoine came back to Paris as the guest of the art dealer Pierre Sirois, who, together with his son-in-law, Gersaint, was to be his faithful friend for the rest of his life. Watteau introduced members of the Sirois family into his paintings. However, he was not a portrait painter.
In 1712, the painter was accepted by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture as an associate member and a painter of fêtes galantes - outdoor entertainments, in which the courtiers often dressed in rural costumes.
In 1715, Jean-Antoine was invited by Pierre Crozat, a very rich financier, to take up quarters in his residence in Montmorency, as was the custom among wealthy art lovers. Crozat had a great collection of Italian and Flemish paintings and drawings, including Correggio, the Venetian masters and Van Dyck, and as Crozat's guest, Watteau profitably applied the lessons of the Italian masters. Moreover, he also painted the gardens and the countrysides, surrounding the villa. Some time later, Watteau left his patron, however, they continued to remain friends.
Since the time, when the painter left his patron, he lived in seclusion and solitude. It was at that time, when Watteau created his masterpieces "Conversations", "Divertissements champêtres" and "Fêtes galantes".
In 1719, Watteau left for London, where his works were in great demand and where he also wanted to consult a famous physician about his health, which had been failing for some time. In London, Jean-Antoine created only few works, one of which was for his doctor on a subject very dear to him. This work was entitled "Italian Comedians".
In 1720, the painter came back to France, where, in only eight days, he painted the now-famous signboard, known as the "Shop Sign of Gersaint", for the shop of his art dealer friend Edme-François Gersaint. Also, his last works include one of his most famous works of that period, entitled "Gilles". It is a portrait of a clown in white, painted as a signboard for the Théâtre de la Foire.
After his death in 1721, Jean-Antoine's fame continued to grow. But with the reaction against the Rococo in the French Academy after about 1750, he was condemned as lacking the heroic dignity and grandeur, required for the highest art, and it was not until about 1860, in the era of Impressionism, that the brothers Goncourt led the rediscovery of the Rococo, that reestablished Watteau as one of the greatest French painters.
Views
The subjects, which best express Watteau's personal taste, are his figures from Italian comedy, represented in his "Gilles" and his fêtes galantes. The latter purport to be simply gatherings of fashionable ladies and gallant gentlemen in shaded parks, but Watteau imbues them with an atmosphere of nostalgia for an unattainable dream world. Even the costumes, graceful variations on contemporary dress are the creations of Watteau's own fantasy. And if in such scenes Watteau gives the impression of a world as unreal as that of the Italian comedy, his representations of Italian comedy figures and scenes are more than simply stage characters in stage actions. They present personalities, full of wistful dreams and longings. The real and the theatrical worlds are thus both transformed into the poetic world of Watteau's imagination.
In his representation of textures, Watteau suggests the brilliant freedom of Rubens and the sheen of Veronese's satins, but his touch is both more fluid and more delicate, than theirs. The shimmer of his light, silvery colors against the shadowy foil of the trees and the misty hills and pale sky of the background give an impression very far from the robust reality of a Rubens or the rich pageantry of Veronese.
Personality
Watteau was a shy, misanthropic, dissatisfied with himself person, who was also libertine in spirit, but prudent in morals. Also, he was indifferent to money, devoted to his art, delicate in health and discreet with women.
