Watteau, Jean-Antoine 1718-1719, Fêtes Vénitiennes, oil on canvas, 68.3 x 57.8cm, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.
Troy, Jean-François de 1724-1725, La Conversation galante, oil on canvas, 64.8 x 53.7cm, Wrightsman Collection, New York.
Introduction
Meantime by the Louis XV‘s administration, Rococo art had went into being in prime time in French. At that time, the art mainly service for the court and the nobility, as the nobilities pursue sensual experience and luxury leisure lifestyle, the art style gradually transfer into colorful, elegant and cheerful way. Thus, sensuality and colorful decoration artwork became increasingly popular. This paper will compare …show more content…
The tone is gold, brown and light blue. The blue chairs and brown bookcases contrasted with the lady’s gold dress and the man in blue respectively. Troy’s art work is colorful, bright and full of details, that highlights the luxury and hedonism of those nobilities. To compare with that, Watteau’s Fêtes Vénitiennes predict muted hues and cool neutrals. It mainly use red, khaki, dark green, light blue, white, brown. The shadows might remind the viewer of Peter Paul Rubens or Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro. Beautiful and vivid characters’ symmetry to form internal connection with each other. As he was deeply influenced by Rubens, the handling method is full of fantasy, poetic. He is good at the mysterious and sad atmosphere to set off the subtle mood of the characters.
Analysis
Jean-Francois de Troy has high status during Rococo era. He was a decorative painter, portrait painter and custom artist. He was good at depicting the noble enjoyment of life. Most Rococo artists had painted such subject. La Conversation galante is colorful and exquisite. The lady in gold fiddles her stockings. On one hand, she lures the man with her leg, on the other hand, she stops him getting closer with her hand. Furthermore, the men’s hat drops on the ground, which shows he hungers for her love. However, he still keeps good manners and etiquette. These two people looks calm, elegant and …show more content…
Watteau’s paintings are the epitome and portrayal of this spirit. In the sight of his work Fêtes Vénitiennes, it contains not only the luxury and hedonism, the viewers can also discover the melancholy feeling hidden behind it, that might be the spirit of Rococo era. Through the perspective of Watteua, the viewer may realize that perhaps such helplessness and sadness was not appeared by an accident, it runs through the whole Rococo era. We may also find the emptiness and loneliness behind Troy’s