L'Automne

L'Automne (Autumn), one of Watteau's treatments of the seasons, participates in the allegorical tradition of seasonal representation while transforming it through his characteristic poetic atmosphere. The seasons as subject allowed him to combine the decorative tradition of emblematic allegory with the specific quality of outdoor light at different times of year — the particular beauty of autumn light, its golden warmth, its sense of abundance and approaching loss. Watteau's allegories are never purely didactic; they dissolve conventional symbolic content in the atmosphere of feeling and painterly observation that makes his work perpetually modern.

The seasonal allegory is rendered with Watteau's characteristic combination of theatrical grace and naturalistic observation, using a luminous palette and fluid brushwork to evoke the mood of the season.