Jean-Antoine Watteau was a French rococo artist whose charming and graceful paintings show his interest in theater and ballet: he is probably best known for his fetes galantes. These romantic and idealized scenes depict elaborately costumed ladies and gentlemen at play in fanciful outdoor settings.

Jean-Antoine Watteau was born on Oct. 10, 1684, in Valenciennes, France. In 1702 he traveled to Paris, where he supported himself by turning out religious pictures and copying the works of popular Dutch artists.

In 1704 he began studying with Claude Gillot. Gillot, who designed and executed scenery for the stage, passed on to Watteau his love of the Italian theater and the characters from the commedia dell'arte. In 1708 Watteau began working with Claude Audran, who had the care of the treasures at the Luxembourg Palace. This collection included a group of scenes from the life of Marie de' Medici painted in the early 1600s by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens's influence can also be seen in Watteau's work.

Kneeling Male Nude Study

In 1709-10 Watteau returned to Valenciennes, where he executed a series of military scenes. In the years 1710-12 he painted the first of three versions of the myth of Cythera, the island of love for which pilgrims embark but never arrive. The paintings represented impossible dreams, the revenge of madness on reason and of freedom on moral rules.

Watteau returned to Paris and in 1715 was befriended by Pierre Crozat, a rich financier and art collector who owned a splendid collection of Flemish and Italian paintings and who admired Watteau's paintings. Watteau lived for a time in the residence of Crozat, but after a while he left to live in seclusion. This began the period of his major paintings, including the fetes galantes.