Watteau

Antoine Watteau · French painter (1684-1721) · 1684–1721

Appears in 8 videos · 8 passages, 2 of them in depth.

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani discusses Watteau mainly through Nerval, in the sessions devoted to "Angélique". He repeats several times Nerval's claim that the Pilgrimage to the Isle of Cythera (which the passages also call The Embarkation for Cythera) was conceived in the mists of the Valois1 2. He reads the painting as a scene of the beyond: the dreamlike figures, the boat and the golden background stand for death3. He also sees in it the concentration of the theme of happiness in the eighteenth century4. Later, he describes it as a twilight, melancholy painting and links it to the quintet from Così fan tutte, which seems to illustrate it5. He also mentions a reproduction hung next to an African mask and, in connection with Nerval, Watteau's satirical cabinet left alone in a château stripped of its furniture6.

Summary produced automatically from 8 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Who is this?

Jean-Antoine Watteau (UK:, US:, French:;Picard:; baptised 10 October 1684 – died 18 July 1721) was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as seen in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens. He revitalized the waning Baroque style, shifting it to the less severe, more naturalistic, less formally classical, Rococo. Watteau is credited with inventing the genre of fêtes galantes, scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with a theatrical air. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet.

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