540. Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), French,

Pierrot, formerly known as Gilles, 1718-1719.

Oil on canvas, 185 x 150 cm.

Musée du Louvre, Paris. Rococo.

 

 

This painting, either called Gilles or Pierrot still has an undefined subject. The sitter taking over the foreground is exceptionally monumental for a work by Watteau. In the background are the four traditional characters from the Commedia dell’arte, accompanying Pierrot but contrasting in their attitude.

 

 

Antoine Watteau

(1684 Valenciennes – 1721 Nogent-sur-Marne)

 

Watteau incarnates all the grace, all the intelligence, all the poetry of the eighteenth century, when French tastes were triumphant throughout the whole of Europe. He is well known as one of the key figures of Rococo art. He arrived in Paris around 1702, where he worked with Gillot, who gave him the interest in scenes of everyday life and theatrical costumes. There he also had access to the gallery of the Luxemburg palace painted by Rubens, who had a great influence on him, more by the subject he painted than by his style, meaning the idea of the fêtes galantes. Watteau's paintings being of such a new type, he acquired in 1717, a new title given to him by the Academy, peintre de fêtes galantes, created expressly for him. Surprisingly, had he not existed, things would doubtless have been no different in the realm of painting. We would, no doubt, have seen the development of the same decorative taste, the same bright, clear painting with amorous nudes and agreeable mythological subjects.

His world is indeed highly artificial, depicting some melancholy under apparent frivolity, reflecting the deep sense of love beyond the pleasure of the flesh, the enigmatic atmosphere brooding over his landscapes – tall trees in parks and glades with marble fountains and statues – and the drooping glance of lovers’ eyes. He alone possessed that genius for colour which conveys a sense of softness and mystery even in brilliant light, a sense of music everywhere; that vigorous draughtsmanship which proclaims him equal to the greatest; that natural poetry arising from the dreams.