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Essay on Jean Antoine Watteau
During the 18th century, there was a developing interest in and great acceptance of nature. The earth, the trees, and flowers, but also the acceptance of simple human urges and instincts increased. Mankind was now seen as the most interesting aspect of nature: good, beautiful, ugly or harsh. These attributes were all accepted in concert with the notion that the things of nature could not be bad. This was the perfect time for Jean Antoine Watteau to come upon the scene for he indeed felt a sympathy and affinity toward mankind.
Jean Antoine Watteau was the greatest French painter of his period and one of the key figures of Rococo art. He was born at Valenciennes in October of 1684, which had passed to France from the Spanish Netherlands only six years before his birth, and contemporaries regarded him as a Flemish painter. There are indeed strong links with Flanders in his art, but it also has a sophistication that is quintessentially French.
Not much is known about Watteau's family except that his father was a tile maker who was prone to drinking and brawling. Watteau showed artistic ability at a young age and it is possible that he first studied under a local artist named Jacques-Albert Gerin. His early drawings were of the local townspeople, shopkeepers, and street clowns in Valenciennes. Like other young artists, Jean Antoine went to Paris in 1702 with the hope of entering a studio where he could refine his art. He worked as a second rate painter before becoming acquainted with Claude Gillot. It was Gillot who exposed Watteau to the Commedia Dell'arte.
These theatrical themes appear throughout Watteau's oeuvre: examples are “Le Mezzetin (1718) which can be viewed at New York's Metropolitan Museum” (Web 1) and the later work Gilles at the Louvre. It is not known for how long Watteau remained with Gillot, but Watteau....
