Nattier’s portraits of the Royal Family of Bourbon, both in the Louvre and at Versailles, are very numerous. He painted every one of Louis XV’s daughters[137] and many other fair women, who, however, bear a strong general resemblance to one another, whereby his portraits are often rendered conventional and monotonous.
It is therefore rather refreshing to turn from Jean Nattier to Desportes and Oudry, who both stand on the threshold of the eighteenth century and who revived realistic landscape painting—an art which had practically lain dormant since the days of Pol de Limbourg; for Claude Lorraine and the Poussins had directed it into wholly diverse channels. Briados and Balthazar, two Spanish hounds formerly belonging to the House of Condé, are exquisitely painted by Desportes, who was highly thought of by all lovers of the chase and was a constant guest at the hunting-parties held in the various French châteaux. A painting by him in the Louvre representing a Huntsman with his dog and bag of game standing in a fine landscape shows his skill at its very best.
Oudry’s compositions come very near those of Desportes: for example, his Chasse du Loup and Chasse du Renard at Chantilly, both of which are noted in the Inventory of the Palais Bourbon. Oudry was encouraged by Largillière to take up decoration also, which he did with conspicuous success. He was admitted into the Academy in 1699, and being appointed to the Directorship of the Tapestry Factory at Beauvais instilled new life into that interesting branch of art, which had sadly decayed under the direction of Charles Le Brun’s imitators. His graceful talent shows itself in certain exquisite designs from La Fontaine’s Fables executed in tapestry at this factory. His favourite abode was the forest around Chantilly; and there he spent much time in painting animals direct from nature. By insisting that his ideas should be accurately transcribed he trained the weavers at Beauvais with much care, thus preparing the way for Boucher, the decorative genius of the next generation. A splendid Gobelins tapestry, executed after a cartoon by Boucher, adorns one side of the Grand Staircase at Chantilly. It represents a young woman seated in a garden to whom a boy and girl are offering fruit and flowers. On the opposite wall there is another tapestry from the workshop of Audran, executed after de Troy.
A copy in this collection (intended for the purposes of an engraving) by Boucher of a portrait of Watteau by himself is not devoid of interest; but it is in the Louvre, at Versailles, and above all in the Wallace Collection, rather than at Chantilly, that we derive a clear idea of Boucher’s light and graceful style. His Sunrise and Sunset on the staircase of Hertford House are considered to be among the finest of his creations. Madame de Pompadour, who was his enthusiastic patroness, frequently sat to him in a variety of attitudes; although his great talent was not portraiture, but decorative work, whereby he marks a decidedly new phase in French Art.
After an exceptionally long reign Louis XIV had at last passed away. He had asserted himself as strongly in Art as he had done in politics and it is worthy of note that, immediately after his death, artists were once more able to take their own independent courses. At this point, therefore, in the history of French Art we come upon a somewhat sudden change, visible also in the art of the cabinet-maker and the decorator. The later Bourbon Kings and Queens left their gorgeous salons and took refuge (with evident personal relief) in smaller and homelier chambers. These less imposing apartments, however, also required suitable decoration and serviceable furnishings: and it was here that Boucher found his opportunity. The boudoir with its delicate colouring and elegant upholstery played a significant rôle under the reigns of Maria Leczinska and Marie Antoinette, and the petits appartements at Versailles became examples of a new style. Paintings on a smaller scale suitable for these graceful bonbonnières were soon in demand; and from these it was but a step to the taste of Watteau, who is perhaps the most typical artist of this period. Plaisir Pastoral, l’Amante Inquiète, and l’Amour Désarmé at Chantilly are fine examples of this artist’s work. Le Donneur des Sérénades in the Musée Condé, of which there is a similar composition at Buckingham Palace belongs to his later period, that is to say, to the last five years of his life. This work is said to represent Mezetin (one of the leading actors at the Comédie Italienne established at the Hôtel du Bourgogne) seated on a bench in a classic garden tuning his guitar. The Amante Inquiète, which forms a pendant to this picture, is of equal merit. Everything in these small paintings is refined and elegant, even to Nature herself—a style far more typical of Watteau, than the scenes of camp-life which mark his stay at Valenciennes in 1709. A study in red chalk of a Warrior, preserved in the Rotunda at Chantilly, recalls this period. In his sketches, of which a great number are in the Louvre, Watteau exhibits his talent as a draughtsman of the highest order and as a worthy pupil of Claude Gillot, the earliest creator of the style for which Watteau became so famous. His relations with Crozat, the famous financier and collector, who was the first to recognise his genius, began in 1612, and it was in his palace that he had an opportunity of studying paintings by the great Venetian masters and landscapes by Rubens, both of which so decidedly influenced his subsequent style. There are exquisite pictures by him in the Louvre and in the Wallace Collection. His Ball under the Colonnade at Dulwich is very famous.
Plate LXXIV.
