Label Text:
Born in humble, provincial circumstances and unconventionally trained, Watteau would transform European drawing and painting with his fluent compositions, fresh subjects, and luminous colors in the course of a brief career cut short by an early death (perhaps from tuberculosis) at the age of thirty-six. This engraving by Joullain reproduces a lost oil painting of the type for which Watteau is best known, in which the amorous mood of the elegantly dressed young people assembled outdoors takes the place of a conventional narrative—a “fête galante,” as Watteau’s first viewers began to call such distinctive images. Here, the composition centers on a young woman seated on a swing, pausing to listen to (or perhaps converse with) the group gathered at her feet. Contrasted with the dense web of lines representing the foliage, the umarked passages representing reflections of light make areas such as her satin skirt appear to gleam.
EEB
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2008.32 |
