Jean-Antoine Watteau

Who was Jean-Antoine Watteau?

Jean-Antoine Watteau better known as Antoine Watteau was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement. He revitalized the waning Baroque style, and indeed moved it to the less severe, more naturalistic, less formally classical Rococo.

Watteau is credited with inventing the genre of fêtes galantes: scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with an air of theatricality. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet.