L'Automne

1700–1702

Slips away to Paris on foot, penniless

Against his father's will, Watteau secretly leaves Valenciennes and walks to Paris without a penny. By one account the decision was influenced by the War of the Spanish Succession and by his acquaintance with the decorator Métayer, under whom he first worked for the theatre.

c. 1704

First patrons: the Mariettes

Watteau finds his first patrons in the engravers and collectors Pierre Mariette II and his son Jean, owners of a large firm dealing in prints and paintings. At their house he gets to know Rembrandt's prints, Titian's drawings and Rubens's engravings, and for the first time enters an atmosphere of true professionalism.

c. 1705

With Gillot: theatre and the commedia dell'arte

Through the Mariettes, Watteau becomes a pupil of Claude Gillot, a master of stage sets who also paints small pictures of Italian-comedy scenes. In Gillot's studio he sees theatrical life from the inside and meets a subject that will become one of the foundations of his art.

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.

28 August 1717

Elected to the Academy: a “fête galante”

By 1717 Watteau's “gallant scenes” have had such wide success that an exception is made for his reception piece, “Pilgrimage to Cythera”: in the minutes the words “pilgrimage to Cythera” are struck out and replaced by “fête galante”. Watteau is elected a full member of the Academy; the ceremony is attended by the First Painter to the King, Antoine Coypel, by Claude Gillot and by the Regent, the Duke of Orléans.

18 July 1721

Died