Paul George Konody

“ The rest were scattered all over the world, and to this may be due the oblivion into which his very name had fallen—partly to this, and partly to the fact that with all the beauty and soulfulness of his work he had no new page to add to the history of the progressive development of art, and even in his best work only gave new variations of the tunes sung by his great precursors and contemporaries. ”

“ All the later theories of light and its effect upon the objects in nature are foreshadowed by Watteau's fêtes champêtres, which give at the same time a characteristic, though highly idealized, picture of the artificiality of the life of his time. He is the initiator of the Louis XV. period, but, except in a few rare cases, his paintings are entirely free from the licentiousness of his followers Lancret and Pater, and even more of Boucher and Fragonard. ”

“ The vitality of his art was due to the rare combination of a poet's imagination with a power of seizing reality. In his treatment of the landscape background and of the atmospheric surroundings of the figures can be found the germs of impressionism. ”

“ From the middle of the 18th century to about 1875, when Edmond de Goncourt published his Catalogue raisonné of Watteau's works and Caylus's discourse on Watteau delivered at the Academy in 1748, the discovery of which is also due to the brothers de Goncourt, Watteau was held in such slight esteem that the prices realized by his paintings at public auction rarely exceeded £100. Then the reaction set in, and in 1891 the “Occupation according to Age” realized 5200 guineas at Christie's, and “Perfect Harmony” 3500 guineas. ”

“ Watteau, suspicious of his master's motives, determined to leave him, advancing as excuse his desire to return to Valenciennes. He found a purchaser, at the modest price of 60 livres, in Sirois, the father-in-law of his later friend and patron Gersaint, and was thus enabled to return to the home of his childhood. In Valenciennes he painted a number of the small camp-pieces, notably the “Camp-Fire,” which was again bought by Sirois, the price this time being raised to 200 livres; this is now in the collection of Mr W. A. Coats in Glasgow. ”

“ The Louvre contains thirteen examples of his art, among them the “Corésus,” “The Sleeping Bacchante,” “The Shift Withdrawn,” “The Bathers,” “The Shepherd’s Hour” (“L’Heure du berger”) , and “Inspiration.” ”