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Move from the children at the lower left to the courting groups at the center and the couple standing together at the right, then notice the turning leaves.
Watteau developed the fête champêtre, a scene of elegant people courting at leisure in the open air. The groups here may stand for three stages of love, from childhood innocence at the left to courtship at the center and fulfilled love at the right, while autumn leaves and fading afternoon light hint that romance passes. The museum suggests that Watteau began the panel near the end of his life and that his pupil Jean-Baptiste Pater, who completed several of his unfinished projects, finished it.
Oil on panel · 48.6 × 64.5 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Rococo
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Fête champêtre (Pastoral Gathering)
- Artist
- Jean Antoine Watteau (French, 1684–1721) Assisted by Jean-Baptiste Pater (French, 1695-1736)
- Date
- 1718–21
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 48.6 × 64.5 cm (19 1/16 × 25 3/8 in.); Framed: 74 × 89.9 × 9.6 cm (29 1/8 × 35 3/8 × 3 3/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Max and Leola Epstein Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.