Le Pèlerinage à l'île de Cythère

Couples in silk drift down a hillside toward a golden boat while cupids flutter around them. Watteau's Embarkation for Cythera was so new that the Royal Academy had to invent a category for it: the fête galante.

The story behind the painting

Watteau was accepted by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1714 and was expected to deliver a reception piece. He was given unusual freedom in choosing the subject, yet busy with private commissions he kept failing to submit it and was reprimanded several times. In January 1717 the academy called him to task, and in August he presented this picture, painted quickly over the previous eight months. He had already treated the theme around 1709 or 1710 in a simpler, more literal version now in Frankfurt. The subject may come from operas or from Dancourt's play The Three Cousins, in which a girl dressed as a pilgrim invites the audience to sail to the island of love.

What to look for

There are three pairs of lovers in the foreground. The couple on the right, beside a statue of Venus, are still absorbed in each other; a second couple rises to follow a third down the hill, and the woman of that third pair glances back fondly at the goddess's grove. At the foot of the slope more couples prepare to board the golden boat on the left, while cupids fly about, pushing lovers closer together. The background landscape is hazy, made with light, wispy strokes, and gives no clue to the season or whether it is dawn or dusk.

Meaning and intent

Cythera, a Greek island, was thought in the ancient world to be the birthplace of Venus, and so sacred to love. The picture shows a fête galante, an amorous outdoor party of the French aristocracy after the death of Louis XIV, a time often seen as one of pleasure and peace after the sombre last years of his reign. Viewers have long noticed that, despite the title, the people seem to be leaving the island rather than arriving, since they have already paired up. Art historians have offered many readings of this voyage, but Watteau himself purposely gave no answer, and the gentle ambiguity remains.

Legacy

The academy created the new genre of fête galante for this work, which Jean-Baptiste Pater and Nicolas Lancret later practised. It honoured Watteau as its originator but kept him from the rank of history painter, the highest class. After his death his art fell from favour; during the Revolution it was linked to a frivolous aristocracy, and once in the Louvre in 1795 drawing students threw bread pellets at it. It was stored until 1816 for protection, and only in the 1830s did Watteau return to fashion. A second version of about 1718 to 1719 is in Charlottenburg Palace, and Debussy and Poulenc both wrote music connected to the theme.