The short life and stunning fame of the "artist of gallant festivities" Antoine Watteau

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

There is something inspiring and at the same time tragic in how Antoine Watteau came to success, building his career as an artist solely on the enormous hard work and talent. Neither a lack of funds, nor a lack of academic education, nor belonging to circles far from art, nor a difficult, difficult character, nor even poor health that led to an early death - none of this prevented Watteau from gaining recognition. Three centuries have passed, and the characters in his paintings continue to live and play with the viewer.

Love for drawing as the main driving force

For Antoine Watteau, his own niche in art was once invented - so great was the need to somehow separate his works from the paintings of his contemporaries, to define what appeared on the canvas thanks to the artist's talent. Nothing, it would seem, predicted a brilliant career as a painter for a boy from Valenciennes, on the border of France and Flanders. Watteau was born in 1684. His father was a roofer and a man of not the most refined upbringing - he had problems with the law and constantly felt the need for money. But Jean Antoine, and that was the name of the future artist, felt an interest in drawing from early childhood and even took some lessons from a local painter. But one did not have to expect much from Valencienne; the mentor from further lessons with Watteau refused. Even before reaching the age of 18, the young man secretly leaves his hometown and goes to where his desire to be surrounded by works of art can come true: to the capital, to Paris.

Even at a young age, Watteau could not boast of good health or a pleasant and light disposition, the main and almost the only thing that paved the way for him in art was his own enthusiasm. I had to earn my living by copying paintings for a workshop on the Notre Dame bridge - and Watteau churned out cheap sketches one after another, and when he finished the work, he went to make sketches from nature - on the streets, squares, fairs.

Paris and France in general at that time - at the beginning of the 18th century - were in vogue for theater. The audience also loved the street performers, who played scenes from the Italian Commedia dell'arte, the traditional street folk theater, and the performances of the Parisian theaters in front of them. There was a lot of work for artists - there was a demand for the creation of sets and for the development of stage costumes. And Watteau was not afraid of work, moreover, he knew how to immerse himself in it entirely, sacrificing the rest of the world. In addition, Paris and the connections that gradually emerged among the young artist made it possible to get in touch with a truly high level of painting, the works of masters of the scale of Titian and Rubens.

Study, work and inspiration

Regarding the theatrical side of Watteau's work, we can say that he felt a kind of "mainstream" of that era: theaters fed not only artists, but also decorators. Successful acquaintances also helped. At some point, Watteau becomes a student of Claude Gillot, an artist who created scenery for theatrical performances and drawings of costume models. Thanks to his teacher, Watteau learned the theater from the inside, its contradictions and nuances hidden from prying eyes; all this will be reflected in the paintings.

Watteau did not receive any academic education, he studied painting and drawing on the go. Talent and endless efficiency - that's what eventually brought him to French palaces. First of all, it was the Luxembourg Palace, where Claude Audran, a new teacher and later a friend of Watteau, was the custodian of a huge collection of works of art. In the halls of the palace, which housed works that for various reasons did not get into the Louvre, Watteau watched Correggio and Poussin, and many other masters, and studied painting in absentia with them. The unique display on the canvas of light and color, movement - Watteau learned all this from the greats.

In 1709, Watteau took part in a competition of the Royal Academy of Arts, where the main prize was a trip to Rome for a year. The daring and ambitious Watteau was counting on victory and was greatly disappointed, having received only the second place. He decided to survive the defeat in his hometown of Valenciennes, where by that time he himself was already a Parisian celebrity. Less than a year later, Watteau returned to Paris. There, new successful acquaintances awaited him, again directly connected with theaters. In 1714, Watteau moved into a mansion with his friend Pierre Crozat, a wealthy man and a great connoisseur of art, a lover of concert and theatrical performances. He introduced his talented friend to the academician of painting Charles de Lafosse, and he already applied for the admission of Antoine Watteau to the Academy. The painting put up for trial was "Pilgrimage to the island of Kiferu". This happened in 1717; the artist had only three years to live.

Artist of gallant celebrations

Despite his short life, Watteau managed to enjoy the recognition, as far as he could generally enjoy the sympathy of fans of his work. In the absence of another definition, he became an "artist of gallant festivities" - because it was this type of pastime that his numerous works were devoted to. The whole world was then really considered a theater, and each played a role - this is the main thing, perhaps, that Watteau's paintings carry, in which sometimes you cannot distinguish an actor from a Parisian count - since both play in public, wear a disguise, mask.

Watteau's interest in actors, behind-the-scenes life, in the essence of acting was quite sincere, and one can trace how his style changed over time. At first, the canvases depicting actors were distinguished by a special expressiveness, deliberate facial expressions and gestures; over time, Watteau moves to the minimum expression of emotions, leaving only hints on the faces of the characters and in their gestures - which makes the picture only more expressive. Understatement and restraint only inflame interest - the composition takes on a new sound, mystery appears in it.

One of the most powerful paintings by Watteau - "Pierrot", also called "Gilles" - a vivid confirmation of this. The canvas captures the moment when the game has not yet begun, and each character is honest with the viewer, including Pierrot, whose expression is discordant with his costume and general mood. Other actors are indifferent to the experiences of Pierrot, whose appearance expresses loneliness and confusion. Only one character seems to feel something similar, and this character, looking directly at the viewer, is a donkey.

A peculiar result of Antoine Watteau's work was the painting "The sign of Gersen's shop", which he painted when he was already completely ill. On the canvas, the artist depicted the gallery space, combined with the street, the facade disappeared; on the walls inside the shop - the works of Watteau's favorite artists: Jordaens, Rubens, Velazquez. The portrait of the Sun King is packed in a box: the era of Louis XIV ends, giving way to something new - including in art.

In 1720, Antoine Watteau died of tuberculosis, he was 36 years old. Watteau's biography does not provide any information about his personal life, it is believed that the artist had no love affairs, and therefore, of course, attempts to find at least one such story are not abandoned. Attempts to unravel the identity of the woman depicted with her back to the viewer in some of Watteau's paintings are devoted to the film "The Secret of Antoine Watteau", "an art detective story", offering another point of view on the reasons for the artist's interest in the events of Parisian theatrical life.

The fashion for Watteau's paintings survived him, moreover, real fame came to the artist a long time after his death - by the beginning of the 19th century. Watteau was recognized as the ancestor of the Rococo style and the forerunner of impressionism - in any case, the artist's landscape and pastoral canvases, the atmosphere that filled the composition, in the new modernist movement of the second half of the 19th century turned out to be very progressive. Watteau left behind a large number of drawings - and even more turned out to be missing. Nevertheless, art connoisseurs do not lose hope that one day the artist's notebook with sketches will be found.

See also: Flemish artist who depicted family feasts - Jacob Jordaens.