Pleasures of Love

Watteau's Pleasures of Love belongs to his fête galante genre, the category of painting the Académie Royale created specifically for him in 1717 when they could not classify his Pilgrimage to Cythera within existing genres. These amorous outdoor gatherings of elegant figures in parkland settings were Watteau's most characteristic invention and had no direct precedent, combining theatrical costuming from the Comédie-Italienne with the pastoral landscape tradition of Rubens and Giorgione. The melancholy undertone that critics have always felt in Watteau's festive scenes reflects his awareness of transience — he was seriously ill with tuberculosis throughout most of his productive career.

Watteau builds his park settings from soft atmospheric distance, placing figures in loose conversational groups against trees and sky. His touch is feathery and varied — fluid where foliage dissolves into sky, more deliberate in the silk costumes — and his palette of pale yellows, roses, and silvery greens creates the luminous haze characteristic of his best work.