Watteau & Chardin: New directions in French painting

Please note that this study day is a trial hybrid event. Members can choose to book either the in-person study day or to watch the event live via Zoom. You can select which way you would like to attend during the booking process. The day will also be recorded and made available to ticketholders for one week after the event. 

Exciting fresh approaches to subject matter were introduced into French painting at the beginning of the eighteenth century by Watteau and Chardin. Influenced by Flemish painting, Watteau brought to his golden landscape scenes of music-playing figures a haunting nostalgia and enigmatic mystery; while Chardin brought to French painting the new subject of everyday life in his scenes of quiet contemplation of children building card houses or mothers and maids about their daily duties. Chardin’s other important contribution was to introduce the subject of still life as he was the first French painter to submit a still life as his reception piece when he entered the French Academy in 1729.  The day will explore the work and careers of these two artists and examine their influence upon future developments in later eighteenth-century painting in the work of French male and female painters from Lancret to Anne Vallayer-Coster.

Programme for the day

Lecture 1:  Introduction:  French Painting in 1700

Lecture 2: Watteau and Chardin: From Fête Champêtre to Still Life

Lecture 3: Chardin and Scenes of Everyday Life

Lecture 4: Chardin’s Influence and Future Directions in French Painting