JEAN-ANTOINE WATTEAU
(French, 1684-172l)
French painter, draughtsman and etcher. His life is
well documented since both his dealer, Gersaint, and his friends wrote his biography.
From his provincial home in Valenciennes and an apprenticeship to obscure master painters,
Watteau made his way to Paris, where he at first worked as a hack copyist. From 1703 for five
years he was assistant to Gillot, the leading painter of fashionable Italian theatrical
scenes, painter of the commedia dell'arte. Watteau now joined Audran the court painter, who
was charged with decorations of the royal chateaux. His artistic training was now
complete and his social ascendancy just beginning. He became a recorder of the social
life of his times, a celebrated painter whose patrons were the richest men of France.
He was invited to join the French Academy and in 1717 became a full member.
Watteau was deeply imbued with the spirit of the great colourists of the past. He had
ample opportunity to study the paintings ofthe masters in the colls of his patrons,
and he copied avidly. Rubens and the painters of the Venetian school were the greatest
influences on his development. One of the last and
greatest paintings is the sign of the picture dealer Gersaint. Painted in 1720, it is
said in a matter of eight days, it was a triumph of observation, composition and
draughtsmanship. The execution and treatment of colour foreshadows the Impressionists.
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