image of Antoine Watteau from wikipedia

Antoine Watteau

Jean-Antoine Watteau, better known as Antoine Watteau, was a French painter 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. Read more from Wikipedia →

Works by this artist in other museums: the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York.