oct 28, 1717 - Pilgrimage to Cythera

Description:

Watteau
-Set on Cythera, a fantasy island of love and romance where lovers go to find their ideal partner (in classical mythology Cythera was seen as the birthplace of Venus, goddess of love), the painting seems to depict the end of the journey when the lovers must re-embark for home
-Academy decided to invent an entirely new classification for it: the fete galante. (an outdoor entertainment or rural festival)
-faces of his figures all look very much the same. All appear smooth-powdered; personalized traits are rare. The painter is concerned not with individuals but with a collective fantasy of the lightness of love, and the lightness, too, of being.
-Enchanted theme (kind of painting found in a salon)
-Less of a dark and light contrast
-Males & females coupled => love theme
-Submission into the Royal Academy => not accepted bc no category