Society in the park, Antoine Watteau

Description of the picture:

Society in the park – Antoine Watteau. 1716-1719. Canvas, oil. 60×75

   Antoine Watteau is a French painter and draftsman, the largest master of the rococo style.

   Watteau’s art is unrealistic to consider outside the context of French culture of the late XVII – early XVIII centuries: painting, music and literature. The recognizable French critic Charles Augustin de Saint-Beuve once said about Jean de Labruyere, the creator of the famous “Characters or Characters of our time”: “A ray of a century has fallen on every page of this book, but the face of the person holding it in his hands remained in the shadows. ” These words can be accurately redirected to Watteau. In order to fully enjoy his art, you need to know the “characters”, the characters of the Labruyere society, the harpsichord plays of Couperin, the works of Lafontaine, Cornell, Montesquieu, Racine, Lancret, Fragonard … – in a word, the era of Louis XIV.

   Watteau made a typical genre, commonly referred to as “gallant festivities.” The painting “Society in the Park” – bright standard of this Rococo style genre. Sensitive experts appreciated not only the picturesqueness of Watteau, but also his musicality. “Watteau belongs to the sphere of F. Cooperin and K. F. E. Bach,” claimed the great art philosopher Oswald Spengler.

   Park – a favorite place of action in the scenes of Watteau appears here as a haven of bliss and love. The painter assigns great importance to the color, the colors with which nature is written, the characters and their costumes."