Antoine Watteau

Antoine Watteau – First dealer, then artist

Jean-Antoine Watteau was born in Valenciennes on 10 October 1684; he had an elder and two younger brothers and was apprenticed at the age of ten to the painter Jacques-Albert Gérin. Nothing more is known of the great artist’s childhood, until 1702, when he was making a living as a picture dealer in Paris. Here, Claude Gilbot took him under his wing as student, whilst Watteau deepened his knowledge of painting and took on his teacher’s inclination for depictions of the theatre. Shortly after, he entered the service of the scene painter Claude Audran III, who, in his capacity as administrator of the Galerie du Luxembourg, commissioned him to create wall decorations (panneaux). During his time in the Palais du Luxembourg, Watteau had the chance to study the work of Peter Paul Rubens, whose Garden of Love inspired his famous fête galante – and Watteau is generally regarded as the creator of this genre of painting. 

Member of the Academy and guest at the house of Crozat

One of Antoine Watteau’s most famous paintings, Embarkation for Cythera, was created as an application for the French Academy, which he wished to join at the suggestion of Charles de La Fosse. Watteau painted this work three times, the most famous being the second version which yielded his membership at the Academy. Around the same time, he was a regular guest at the house of the wealthy art collector Pierre Crozat, which brought him not only access to his comprehensive collection of manuscripts, but also acquaintance with famous art connoisseurs such as Pierre-Jen Mariette, Gray Caylus and Jean de Jullienne – the latter would later become of great importance to the estate of Antoine Watteau: the four-volume Recueil Julliene, a magnificent collection of a total of 621 etchings by Watteau was published from 1726 in just 100 complete sets. The oversized splendid tomes compiled by Jean de Jullienne are among the most expensive, sought-after, and rarest works of the 18th century. 

The unsolved puzzle of the sad clown, Gilles

Between 1718 and 1719, Antoine Watteau produced an oil painting which has proved a much-discussed puzzle amongst all experts to this day. The clown Pierrot, called Gilles, a protagonist of Italian Commedia dell’arte, stands at the centre of a jovial ensemble, but with a melancholy expression. The unusual composition does not seem to have a rational meaning and has prompted various explanations. Numerous later artists have drawn inspiration from it, including the greats such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau, whilst Marcel Carné refers to it in his highly praised film Les Enfants du paradis. Nothing is known of who commissioned Gilles and why, although Antoine Watteau took up and varied the Pierrot motif in later works. 

Antoine Watteau died much too early of tuberculosis on 18 July 1721 in Nogent-sur-Marne. His numerous admirers kept the memory of his work alive, first and foremost the Prussian Emperor Frederick the Great, who owned 19 of the deceased master’s paintings and suggested to his court painter Antoine Pesne that he adopt Watteau’s style.