Jean-Antoine Watteau

Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in color and movement (in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens). He revitalized the waning Baroque style, and indeed moved it to the less severe, more naturalistic, less formally classical, RococWatteau is credited with inventing the genre of fêtes galantes: scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with an air of theatricality. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet.