L'Oeuvre D'Antoine Watteau Pientre du Roy en son Academie Roïale de Peinture et Sculpture Gravé d'après ses Tableaux & Desseins originaux...par les Soins de M. de Jullienne
ca. 1740
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Overall: 25 3/16 x 19 1/2 x 1 15/16 in. (64 x 49.5 x 5 cm) plate: 16 15/16 x 12 5/16 in. (43 x 31.2 cm)
Classification
Books
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert N. Straus, 1928
Accession Number
28.113(1-3)
Art Historical Context
This exquisite volume, *L'Œuvre doine Watteau, Peintre du Roy en son Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture*, is celebrated 18th-century catalog of engravings produced around 1740, faithfully reproducing the paintings and drawings of the masterful French Rococo artist Antoine Watteau (1684–1721 Overseen by Watteau's devoted patron and friend, Jean de Jullienne the book captures the artist's signature *fêtes galantes*dreamy scenes of elegantly attired figures in lush, theatrical landscapes that defined the Rococo style's playful elegance and emotional subtlety. Printed as a bound collection ...
About the Artist
Antoine Watteau · 1684–1721
Jean-Antoine Watteau, born in 1684 in Valenciennes to a modest family—his father a roofer named Jean-Philippe Watteau—was the second of four sons who displayed an early passion for art. After initial apprenticeship under local painter Jacques-Albert Gérin, he moved to Paris around 1702, working in workshops copying Flemish and Dutch genre scenes. By 1705, he entered the studio of Claude Gillot, ab...