No other artist made such a mark on 18th-century. painting north of the Alps as Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). In a creative phase lasting little more than a decade, he created not the large forceful works artists are often remembered for, but rather small-scale and playful pictures full of quiet charm and gentle wit. He was able to exert artistic influence because, living in a period of upheaval and decline at the end of the era of Louis XlV, he had a presentiment of what was to come: a refinement of the mind and sensory perception, the Enlightenment, and with it new ideas of social justice. The developments that led to the French Revolution at the end of the century are already present in embryo beneath the surface merriment of Watteau's painting.

"It has always seemed to me strange that the artist who created these figures, which leap and dance around him, was himself a morose and misanthropic character. He withdrew entirely into his own world of color; his imagination became cheerful and merry as soon as he picked up a brush. I have often felt deeply grateful to him for his romances, his dance tunes, his delightful drinking songs; often, after looking at

his paintings, I have felt that the movement of life around me was sweeter."

The Mystery of the Artist as a Man

Inset: France around 1700

Gersaint's Shop Sign

Early Work

Scenes of Military Life

Inset: Theatrical Life in Paris

A Passion for the Theater

Embarkation for Cythera

Inset: Art and Fashion

Fetes galantes

The Draftsman

Nature, Landscape, Children, Dogs

Last Years and Legacy

Chronology

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

Picture Credits