(1684?C1721). French painter of Flemish descent, b. Valenciennes. Until 1704 poverty forced him to work in the shops of mediocre artists, where he produced genre and devotional subjects. In 1704?C8 he studied in the studio of Claude Gillot, an adept painter of scenes of theatrical life, which later became the subject of some of Watteau's finest paintings, such as Love in the Italian Theatre and Love in the French Theatre (both: Berlin). In 1708?C9 Watteau worked with the decorator Claude Audran. Watteau attracted the attention of eminent patrons in his last years, including the comte de Caylus, his biographer, and in 1717 he was made a full member of the Acad??mie royale. The Embarkation for Cythera (1717; Louvre) is characteristic of his art; it is a delicate, courtly fantasy, represented in warm and shimmering pastel tones that place him among the great colorists of all time. A lyric, Giorgionesque quality pervades his airy, gay, and sensuous scenes, which have a poignancy that none of his followers attained. Out of the most fleeting aspects of life he created an enduring and individual art. His exquisite paintings influenced fashion and garden design in the 18th cent. Other outstanding works include Gilles (Louvre), Perspective (Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston), Mezzetin (Metropolitan Mus.), and Gersaint's Shop Sign (1719; Berlin).   Related Paintings of WATTEAU, Antoine :. | Pilgrimage to Cythera1 | The Marriage Contract | On the March | Three Studies of a Lady with a Hat | Les Charmes de la Vie |
Related Artists:
Paggi, Giovanni Battista
Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1554-1627 .Italian painter and theorist. As the son of a newly inscribed nobleman, he received a Renaissance gentleman's education, but as an artist he was it seems self-taught, despite the encouragement of Luca Cambiaso. The gentleman who then set up as a painter was obliged to give his work to patrons, sometimes expecting future remuneration; but when one patron reneged on payment in 1581, Paggi mortally wounded him and was banished from Genoa. He was given protection by Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and settled in Florence. A fresco of St Catherine Converting Two Criminals (1582), painted for Niccol? Gaddi's family chapel at S Maria Novella and thoroughly Florentine in manner, established Paggi's reputation at the Medici court. He painted ephemeral decorations, portraits (all untraced) and altarpieces for many Florentine churches and for the cathedrals of San Gimignano (c. 1590), Pistoia (1591-3) and Lucca (1597-8),
Artur Grottger
(1837 - 1867) was a Polish painter and graphic designer, one of the most prominent artists of the early 1800s despite his brief life. He was born in Eastern Galicia to an amateur artist of German background, Jan Jozef Grottger, and a Polish mother. Grottger studied painting under the apprenticeships of Jan Kanty Maszkowski and Juliusz Kossak in Lwew. Grottger received an imperial scholarship to attend the Krakow School of Fine Arts, where he studied under Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and Wojciech Kornel Stattler. Around this time he met one of his biggest future art patrons and benefactors, Aleksander Pappenheim. Grottger painted mostly epic battle scenes. He moved to Vienna in 1854, where he produced some of his most famous paintings. In 1865, Grottger returned to Poland and stayed in Krakew and Lwew, but left this time for good in 1866.
Jacques Bellange
French Painter, ca.1575-1616,French painter, etcher and draughtsman. His known artistic activity dates only from 1602 to 1616 and he is now familiar chiefly for his etchings and drawings, all his decorative works and most of his paintings having perished. His highly idiosyncratic style was inspired by such Italian artists as Parmigianino, by the School of Fontainebleau and by northern artists including Albrecht Derer and Bartholomeus Spranger. His work would seem to express a private and nervous religious sensibility through a style of the greatest refinement.