Fête champêtre (Pastoral Gathering)

Art Institute of Chicago

Fête champêtre (Pastoral Gathering)

Jean Antoine Watteau (French, 1684–1721)

Date
1718–21
Medium
Oil on panel
Culture
France
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Institution
Art Institute of Chicago

Jean-Antoine Watteau developed the genre of painting known as fête champêtre , featuring courting figures relaxing in a landscape. The elegant figures in Pastoral Gathering are grouped to suggest the three phases of love: childhood innocence (left), romantic enchantment and courtship (center), and amorous attainment (right). The transitory nature of romance is underscored by the changing autumn leaves and waning afternoon light. This painting may have been begun by Watteau toward the end of his career and finished by Jean-Baptiste Pater, who studied under Watteau and completed some of his unfinished projects.

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Object type
AAT300033618

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