The Embarkation for Cythera
Elegantly dressed couples on their way to (or from) the island of the goddess of love. Watteau created a new genre, the fête galante, and with it the dreamy, light tone of the Rococo.
The couples form an undulating line from right to left – like a story told in several stages.
Antoine Watteau was born in Valenciennes near the Flemish border and came to Paris as a young man. In 1712 he was accepted as a candidate member of the French Academy. To become a full member he had to submit a reception piece. It took him five years. The Embarkation for Cythera was submitted in 1717 and hangs today in the Louvre.
The Academy had a strict hierarchy of genres, with history painting at the top. Watteau’s picture did not fit into any of the existing categories, so the Academy created a new one: the fête galante, the gallant party. In the Academy’s records the title was changed from a pilgrimage to the island of Cythera to a gallant party.
Cythera was a Greek island which, according to myth, belonged to Venus, the goddess of love. The picture shows couples in elegant clothes dressed as pilgrims, with staffs and short capes. On the right stands a bust of Venus garlanded with roses. The couples move from right to left down a slope towards a gilded boat. Small cupids flutter in the air above the boat. The clothes are contemporary and costly, but the pilgrims’ dress gives them a playful, theatrical character.
For a long time it was thought that the couples were on their way to the island. In the 1960s the art historian Michael Levey argued that they are instead leaving it, since they are already standing by the bust of Venus. The picture therefore has a wistful tone: the moment of love is over. The question is still debated, and both readings persist.
The couples can be read as a story in stages. One couple is still seated in conversation, another is getting up, and a woman turns to look back. Further down, the couples walk towards the boat. The movement forms a gentle curve through the picture. The landscape is hazy, with a misty horizon and blue mountains that merge into the sky. The faces are small and often turned away, so that the mood is carried by postures and gestures.
Watteau painted with light, shimmering brushstrokes and made much use of lustrous silk colours in pink, gold and blue. He was influenced by Rubens and the Venetian painters. The subject has been linked to the theatre, in particular to a play by the dramatist Dancourt, but the connection is disputed. Watteau also painted a second, livelier version of the picture, now in Berlin.
Watteau died in 1721, only thirty-six years old. His pictures became very popular and had many imitators. The fête galante became one of the defining genres of the Rococo. After the Revolution the style was considered frivolous, but in the 19th century it was rediscovered by writers and painters, and The Embarkation for Cythera became a symbol of a lost, dreamlike world. The picture is often seen as the very epitome of the Rococo mood: elegant, melancholy and fleeting.