Jean-Antoine Watteau · 1684–1721

Tuesday, October 10, 1684 – December 31, 1721 All day

Jean-Antoine Watteau was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as seen in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens. He revitalized the waning Baroque style, shifting 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 a theatrical air. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet. October 10, 1684 – 1721; died at about 36. Alive at the same time as Isaac Newton, Johann Sebastian Bach, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, and John Locke. Wiki link

Jean-Antoine Watteau · 1684–1721