Watteau Exhibition

I attended a lunchtime lecture on the Watteau exhibition at the Royal Academy, to find out a little more about the drawings.

The exhibition consists of a series of tiny drawings created by Watteau, a painter that also created these tiny drawings. Below are some of the things I learned about him.

He used something called the trois crayons technique, where he used three colours of chalks; red, white and black. Chalk had fallen out of fashion at the time so it's interesting that he went back to it.

He took interest in drawing whatever took his attention at the time - much like I do. I go through phases of obsessing over something then I draw whatever I can think of. I don't tend to have a set idea or style.

He often drew figures in various positions in his sketchbooks, then used them as references for his paintings.

He also had an unusual practise of going back to drawings, even returning years later to fill a space.

He selecterd details and borrowed from paintings, choosing details that particularly conveyed human emotions.

& Also re-used scenes and characters from other artists, often improving them along the way!

The talk can be heard here:
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/events/talks/watteaus-drawings-virtuosity-and-delight-an-introduction,1435,EV.html