Artwork
Group of Eighteen Landscapes with Animals and Figures (folding screen)
Group of Eighteen Landscapes with Animals and Figures (folding screen) is an unspecified painting by the Rococo painting artist Jean Antoine Watteau. It dates from 1712 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Created around 1712, this folding screen comprises eighteen compact landscape panels attributed to Jean‑Antoine Watteau.
About this work
Overview
Created around 1712, this folding screen comprises eighteen compact landscape panels attributed to Jean‑Antoine Watteau. The work is part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection and presents a series of vignette‑like scenes that together form a continuous decorative object.
Subject & Meaning
Each panel depicts a pastoral setting where figures and animals coexist. The scenes range from musicians and dancers to hunters and grazers, often showing subtle interactions such as a woman stroking a dog or a rider guiding a horse, hinting at a harmonious relationship between humanity and the natural world.
Technique & Style
Watteau employs a restrained palette of browns, greens, and muted tones, rendering the landscapes with delicate brushwork. The compositions are organized in a regular grid, allowing each vignette to function independently while contributing to the overall rhythm of the screen.
History & Provenance
The screen was produced in the early eighteenth century, likely for a domestic interior. It entered the Victoria and Albert Museum’s holdings in the twentieth century, where it remains on display as an example of French decorative painting adapted for portable, multi‑panel formats.
Context
During Watteau’s career, the Rococo taste for intimate, lyrical scenes extended beyond canvas to decorative objects such as screens and cabinets. This work reflects that trend, merging the artist’s characteristic elegance with a functional, architectural form.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jean-Antoine Watteau was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as seen in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens.
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