The Gallant Gardener

c. 1708 – 1709

The Luxembourg Palace as a school: Rubens and Poussin

Working for Audran, Watteau can study the collections of the Luxembourg Palace without restriction; the palace serves as a store for paintings, tapestries and furniture, and for him it is in effect a museum. At its heart is Rubens's cycle of 24 canvases, “The Life of Marie de’ Medici”; he also sees Poussin's mythological landscapes there.

31 August 1709

Second place in the Prix de Rome competition

In summer 1709 Watteau and four other competitors paint the set subject of David's return after his victory over Goliath. On 31 August the result is announced: he does not win the first prize and the long stay in Rome that goes with it — his picture comes second; taking the defeat hard, the 24-year-old leaves Audran and goes back to Valenciennes.

c. 1709 – 1710

The dealer Sirois buys the camp pictures

“The Departing Regiment” goes for a modest 60 livres to a man named Sirois, the father-in-law of Gersaint, and the money lets Watteau return to the home of his childhood. In Valenciennes he paints a number of small camp pictures; Sirois buys one of them, a camp-fire scene, again — this time for 200 livres.

c. 1710

Friendship with Antoine de La Roque

In Valenciennes Watteau meets Antoine de La Roque, an officer in the king's mounted gendarmerie who is recovering from a serious wound. A man of letters and later for many years the editor of the Mercure de France, he becomes one of the painter's close friends.

30 July 1712

Admitted to the Academy as an associate

Watteau seeks admission to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. According to Gersaint, the academician Charles de La Fosse, having seen his work, urges him to apply and helps to get him accepted among the Academy's associate members.

1714

Moves into the banker Crozat's mansion

Through Sirois, Watteau finds a patron in the very wealthy banker and collector Pierre Crozat and, at his invitation, moves into Crozat's newly built Paris mansion. There he gains access to the celebrated collection and eagerly copies drawings by the great masters; next door lives the academician Charles de La Fosse, with whom he is on good terms.