The Complete Louvre Part 30: The French Rococo I - Chardin & Watteau

Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in color and movement-- a real Rubenist. I, along with many art historians blanche at categorizing him as a Rococo painter. Still, less so is even Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779), considered a master of still life and genre paintings.

Yet their careers do blossom in the shadow of the death of Louis XIV, the only king most Frenchmen ever knew. So, I will classify them as Rococo with a grain of salt when a weary nation was trying to seek new ground.