Antoine Watteau

1684 Born at Valenciennes in northern France.

1702 Probable date of Watteau’s move to Paris where he is employed in a picture workshop producing devotional and wholesale paintings.

1705 Assists the painter Claude Gillot in the production of paintings illustrating scenes from the theatre including the commedia dell’arte.

1708 Works with an interior decorator, probably providing paintings which were incorporated into the decorative scheme.

1709 Wins second prize in the Prix de Rome competition. Returns for a short time to Valenciennes.

1717 Admitted to the Académie Royale. His reception piece is Pilgrimage to Cythera.

1719 Visits London possibly in order to consult Richard Mead, a renowned doctor, about his failing health.

1720 Returns to Paris. In poor health, he goes to live with his friend the art dealer Edmé-François Gersaint.

1721 Paints L’Enseigne de Garsaint – a shop sign for Gersaint’s business. Dies at Nogent sur Marne near Paris.

Antoine Watteau - Selected Works

1708 Fair with Players, Potsdam, Schloss Sans Souci

1710 The Bivouac, Moscow, Pushkin Museum

1710 On the March, York Art Gallery

1713 Respite from War , St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

1713 Party of Four, San Francisco, Museum of Fine Arts

1713 The Marriage Contract, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

1716 The Lesson of Love, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum

1717 Pilgrimage to Cythera, Paris, Musée du Louvre

1717 The Pleasures of the Ball, London, Dulwich Picture Gallery

1717 The Indifferent Man, Paris, Musée du Louvre

c1718 The Music Party, London, Wallace Collection

c1718 Harlequin and Columbine, London, Wallace Collection

1717–18 Les Fètes Vénitiennes, Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland

1718 The Coquettes, St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

1718 The Toilette , London, Wallace Collection

1718 Gathering in the Park, Paris, Musée du Louvre

1718 The Perspective, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

1717–19 Mezzetin, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

1719 Embarkation for Cythera, Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg

1719 The Shepherds, Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg

1719 The Champs-Elysées, London, Wallace Collection

1720 Gilles , Paris, Musée du Louvre

1720 Country Amusements, London, Wallace Collection

c1721 Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

1721 L’Enseigne de Garsaint, Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg