Jean Antoine Watteau was the interpreter par excellence of the carefree, at times somewhat melancholy dream-world that is characteristic of the Rococo period. At the age of 18 he left his native city of Valenciennes and travelled to Paris, where he quickly made his name with paintings of military and country scènes. In 1717 he became a member of the Académie Royale as the creator of fêtes galantes - romantic gatherings - often with musical accompaniment - of fashionably dressed lovers. It was with this new genre that Watteau achieved his international breakthrough.
The key to Watteau's work is the drawing: he was constantly sketching and would catch friends and acquaintances again and again in real-life attitudes, which were swiftly committed to paper. Professional models, too, came to pose for him in endlessly changing costumes. Often he would draw the same figure several times on a single sheet, each time under a changing light. These drawings were then scrupulously conserved in large, bound volumes, which later served for composing paintings. For example, the gracious female figure to the right of the page discussed here appears in the Peasant Marriage, probably painted in 1715. Already in this early phase of creation Watteau made masterly use of two types of chalk: the figures are built up with soft red chalk lines, with white chalk highlights suggesting patches of light. Particular attention was paid to the decorative treatment of the garments, the folds and texture of which he sought to reproduce as close to nature as possible.
He was constantly perfecting his technique, from 1715/16 onwards even drawing "aux trois crayons". This combined use of black, red and white chalk goes back to the 16th century Italian masters, including Federico Zuccaro. It was applied brilliantly by Peter Paul Rubens, from whom Watteau learned much. Contrary to the great baroque master's powerful language of shapes, Watteau produces a fragile modelling evoked by gossamer-thin lines and short strokes that resonate nervously on the surface of the paper. These confer a particularly refined elegance to his graceful female figures - one represented sitting, the other two standing in elegant dance positions.
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