Watteau

Hind, C. Lewis (Charles Lewis), 1862-1927Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 69K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Watteau by C. Lewis HindAuthor: Hind, C. Lewis (Charles Lewis), 1862-1927,Language: English, Class: ND: Fine Arts: Painting, Release Date: Dec 14, 2012

Editor's review

C. Lewis Hind's Watteau is a critical biography of Watteau aimed at general readers, an early English work of popular art writing. In fluent prose the author leads readers into the world of eighteenth-century French Rococo painting, following the outlines of Watteau's life and representative works and touching on how the tastes of the age, stage scenes, and aristocratic social life shaped the painter's subjects. The descriptions of pictorial atmosphere, figures' poses, and color handling serve as an introductory guide to appreciating Watteau and help readers understand why the Rococo style flourished in eighteenth-century France. As an early biography, its views and sources carry the limitations of their time and should not be used as the latest scholarly conclusions, but the writing is highly readable, suited as auxiliary reading before or after a museum visit or as supplementary reading at the introductory stage of art history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Visitors preparing to see Watteau's works or Rococo painting exhibitions
Introductory readers who want to understand eighteenth-century French painting and the Rococo style
Lower-year art history students using it as supplementary reading
General readers who enjoy artists' biographies and narrative prose

Not a good fit for

Professional researchers who need the latest scholarly verification and rigorous visual analysis
Readers who want only high-resolution picture albums, image-led catalogues
Readers completely unfamiliar with European art history who are unwilling to fill in basic knowledge

Reading tips

First look at the representative works mentioned in the book, then view them against reliable albums or museum catalogues
Note the author's evaluative tone as you read, distinguishing narrative description from historical verification
Read alongside material on eighteenth-century French society and culture to understand how Rococo taste took shape

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no background in art history?

It can serve as an introductory reader, but some support is needed. The author's prose is fluent, but the book is early and its terminology and background explanations are not systematic. It is advisable to learn the basic features of Rococo and Watteau's representative works first; the book will then be easier to enter, and you will avoid taking its earlier views as settled conclusions.

Are the book's views outdated by today's standards?

As an early critical biography, its source citations and evaluative framework bear the marks of the era in which it was written, and some judgments now require revision. Yet its descriptions of pictorial atmosphere and period taste remain readable, suited as a text for understanding the reception history of Watteau rather than as the latest research conclusions.

Do I need a picture album to read this book?

It is advisable. When the book discusses specific works, viewing them against a reliable album or a museum's online catalogue makes the author's descriptions of composition, color, and figures' poses more immediately understandable and helps you judge whether the book's evaluations fit the images themselves.

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About the author

Hind, C. Lewis (Charles Lewis), 1862-1927 Author

Charles Lewis Hind (1862–1927) was a British art critic and writer. Public information about him is limited, and the details of his life await fuller treatment in specialist sources, yet the six works held in the collection make his main direction clear: he wrote accessible introductions to European masters of earlier centuries, combining biographical narrative with commentary on individual works. His subjects range from Constable, Hogarth, Romney and Watteau to Turner, and Turner's Golden Visions and Turner: Five Letters and a Postscript in particular reflect his lasting interest in Turner's use of colour and light. Written for general readers in a plain style, these texts set each painter's life against specific pictures and remain a useful starting point for understanding these British and French artists.