Louis Joseph Watteau (10 April 1731 - 17 August 1798), known as the Watteau of Lille (a title also given to his son) was a French painter active in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

. Watteau was born in

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

. His father Noël Joseph Watteau (1689-1756) was brother to

Jean-Antoine Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as ...

, a painter of fêtes galantes, and he was himself father to the painter François Watteau. He played a decisive role in the foundation of what would become the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille, opened in 1803, by producing the first ever inventory of paintings confiscated by the state during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. He died in Lille, aged 67.

Works

* ''La Jolie colombe'', oil on wood, Musée des Beaux-Arts,

* ''La 14ème expérience aérostatique de M. Blanchard'', oil on canvas, Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse,

* ''Le Bombardement de Lille'', oil on canvas, Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse,

* ''Le retour des Aéronautes Blanchard et Lépinard'', oil on canvas, Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse,

Bibliography

* Mabille de Poncheville. * Claude-Gérard Marcus. * Gaëtane Maës, ''Les Watteau de Lille'', Paris, 1998. *

External links

Louis Joseph Watteau
on Artcyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Watteau, Louis Joseph 1731 births 1798 deaths People from Valenciennes 18th-century French painters French male painters Artists from Lille 18th-century French male artists