Pèlerinage à l'île de Cythère

Rococo

Watteau and the fête galante

A new kind of picture, small and theatrical, 1701–1730

After the state portraits of Louis XIV's court, a painter from Valenciennes made small pictures of leisured company in parks and of actors from the comedy stage, with no history or scripture behind them. The Academy received his reception piece under a name of its own: fête galante.

  • The state portrait as the point of departure
  • The fête galante and the Academy
  • Comedy actors, Italian and French
  • The fête galante off the park: a shop, a stage

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

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