The constantly over-stimulated people of that time interpreted these pictures as a paradise in which their imaginations could run wild. Even earnest men whose thoughts were directed towards lofty goals sought consolation and convalescence from serious intellectual battles. One of the great admirers of Watteau was King Frederick II of Prussia (1712-1786), who adorned his palace with Watteau’s pictures.
Amongst Watteau’s best works are, of course, La Leçon d’amour (the Lesson in Love) (c. 1716), The Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera and The Dance (between 1710 and 1720). The Gersaint’s Shop Sign (1720), a sign painted for the Paris art dealer Gersaint, depicted the interior of the sale room and the distinguished visitors, thus capturing the reality of the time. One of his most beautiful pictures, The Surprise (c. 1718), had been missing since the mid-19th century and presumed to be destroyed until 2008, when it was discovered in an English country house and soon afterwards sold at auction for more than €15 million. What Watteau had depicted in his pastoral scenes and lively entertainments nevertheless influenced reality insofar as certain items of clothing such as bonnets, bodices, skirts and other ensembles of feminine dress were taken over from the fashion of that time and were still worn 150 years after Watteau’s death.
Amongst Watteau’s numerous imitators, only two have really made a name for themselves. One is Watteau’s student and friend Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743), who in his pictures, widely distributed particularly through engravings, continued the tradition of pastoral scenes and joyous parties. Amongst his best-known pictures are Game in the Open Air and Moulinet, (both early 18th century) or even the Breakfast with Ham (1735). The other is Jean-Baptiste Pater (1695-1736), who initially was trained by his father as a sculptor and later, like a good pupil, obediently stuck to the tracks laid down by Watteau, but brought with him some Flemish humour. He made the artistic form hitherto featured only in life at court and amongst the aristocracy rather more folksy. Pater depicted, in exactly the same way as François Boucher (1703-1770) and Lancret, al fresco parties and dances in marvellous colours. Pater’s masterpieces include The Fortune Teller, The Bathers (c. 1730) and The Joys of Country Life (1730-1735).
The inclinations of this somewhat more uninhibited era were particularly to the taste of the very productive François Boucher, the favourite artist of Louis XV and one of his mistresses, Madame de Pompadour. Boucher wanted to please his contemporaries by embellishing their walls and ceilings. In this sense he embodied the taste of the century more than anyone else; he had a gift for composition, which he always expressed with a light touch, elegance and perfect harmony. As early as 1723, Boucher won the much sought-after Prix de Rome, which included a four-year stay in Rome. He was incredibly productive, creating mythological scenes with seductive goddesses, for example Diana after Bathing (1742), and pastoral scenes with alluring activities. In addition, he illustrated books and created designs for tapestries, models for porcelain figures, as well as fans and theatre decorations.