belonging to Mr Hodgkins, was painted in acknowledgment of Rigaud's friendly action.
Watteau now went to live with Crozat, the greatest private art collector of his time, for whom he painted a set of four decorative panels of “The Seasons,” one of which, “Summer,” is now in the collection of Mr Lionel Phillips. Crozat left at his death some 400 paintings and 19,000 drawings by the masters. It is easy to imagine how Watteau roamed among these treasures, and became more and more familiar with Rubens and the great Venetians. In 1719 or 1720 the state of his health had become so alarming that he went to London to consult the famous doctor Richard Mead. But far from benefiting by the journey, he became worse, the London fog and smoke proving particularly pernicious to a sufferer from consumption. On his return to Paris he lived for six months with his friend Gersaint, for whom he painted in eight mornings the wonderful signboard depicting the interior of an art dealer's shop, which is now—cut into two parts—in the collection of the German emperor. His health made it imperative for him to live in the country, and in 1721 he took up his abode with M. le Fèvre at Nogent. During all this time, as though he knew the near approach of the end and wished to make the best of his time, he worked with feverish haste. Among his last paintings were a “Crucifixion” for the curé of Nogent, and a portrait of the famous Venetian pastellist Rosalba Carriera, who at the same time painted her portrait of Watteau. His restlessness increased with the progress of his disease; he wished to return to Valenciennes, but the long journey was too dangerous; he sent for his pupil Pater, whom he had dismissed in a fit of ill-temper, and whom he now kept by his side for a month to give him the benefit of his experience; and on the 18th of July 1721 he died in Gersaint's arms.
Watteau's position in French art is one of unique importance, for, though Flemish by descent, he was more French in his art than any of his French contemporaries. He became the founder—and at the same time the culmination—of a new school which marked a revolt against the pompous decaying classicism of the Louis XIV. period. The vitality of his art was due to the rare combination of a poet's imagination with a power of seizing reality. In his treatment of the landscape background and of the atmospheric surroundings of the figures can be found the germs of impressionism. All the later theories of light and its effect upon the objects in nature are foreshadowed by Watteau's fêtes champêtres, which give at the same time a characteristic, though highly idealized, picture of the artificiality of the life of his time. He is the initiator of the Louis XV. period, but, except in a few rare cases, his paintings are entirely free from the licentiousness of his followers Lancret and Pater, and even more of Boucher and Fragonard. During the last years of his life Watteau's art was highly esteemed by such fine judges as Sirois, Gersaint, the comte de Caylus, and M. de Julienne, the last of whom had a whole collection of the master's paintings and sketches, and published in 1735 the Abrégé de la vie de Watteau, an introduction to the four volumes of engravings after Watteau by Cochin, Thomassin, Le Bas, Liotard and others. From the middle of the 18th century to about 1875, when Edmond de Goncourt published his Catalogue raisonné of Watteau's works and Caylus's discourse on Watteau delivered at the Academy in 1748, the discovery of which is also due to the brothers de Goncourt, Watteau was held in such slight esteem that the prices realized by his paintings at public auction rarely exceeded £100. Then the reaction set in, and in 1891 the “Occupation according to Age” realized 5200 guineas at Christie's, and “Perfect Harmony” 3500 guineas. At the Bourgeois sale at Cologne in 1904 “The Village Bride” fetched £5000.
The finest collection of Watteau's works is in the possession of the German emperor, who owns as many as thirteen, all of the best period, and mostly from M. de Julienne's collection. At the Kaiser Friedrich museum in Berlin are two scenes from the Italian and French comedy and a fête champêtre. In the Wallace Collection are nine of his paintings, among them “Rustic Amusements,” “The Return from the Chase,” “Gilles and his Family," “The Music Party,” “A Lady at her Toilet" and “Harlequin and Columbine.” The Louvre owns, besides the diploma picture, the “Antiope,” “The Assemblage in the Park,” “Autumn,” “Indifference,” “La Finette," “Gilles,” “A Reunion” and “The False Step,” as well as thirty-one original drawings. Other paintings of importance are at the Dresden, Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Petersburg and Vienna galleries; and a number of drawings are to be found at the British Museum and the Albertina in Vienna. Of the few portraits known to have been painted by Watteau, one is in the collection of the late M. Groult in Paris.
Authorities.—Since the resuscitation of Watteau's fame by the de Goncourts, an extensive literature has grown around his life and work. The basis for all later research is furnished by Caylus's somewhat academic Life, Gersaint's Catalogue raisonné (Paris, 1744), and Julienne's Abrégé. For Watteau's childhood, the most trustworthy information will be found in Cellier's Watteau, son enfance, ses comtemporains (Valenciennes, 1867). Of the greatest importance is the Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre de Watteau, by E. de Goncourt (1875), and the essay on Watteau by the brothers de Goncourt in L'Art du XVIIIe siècle. See also Watteau by Paul Mantz (Paris, 1892); “Antoine Watteau,” by G. Dargenty (Les Artistes célèbres, Paris, 1891); Watteau, by Gabriel Séailles (Paris, 1892); Antoine Watteau by Claude Phillips (London, 1895; reprinted without alterations or corrections by the author, 1905); and Camille Mauclair's brilliant monograph Antoine Watteau (London, 1905), which is of exceptional interest as a physiological study, since the author establishes the connexion between Watteau's art and character and the illness to which he succumbed in the prime of his life. (P. G. K.)
WATTENBACH, WILHELM (1819–1897), German historian, was born at Ranzau in Holstein on the 22nd of September 1819. He studied philology at the universities of Bonn, Göttingen and Berlin, and in 1843 he began to work upon the Monumenta Germaniae historica. In 1855 he was appointed archivist at Breslau; in 1862 he became professor of history at Heidelberg, and ten years later professor at Berlin, where he was a member of the directing body of the Monumenta and a member of the Academy. He died at Frankfort on the 21st of September 1897. Wattenbach was distinguished by his thorough knowledge of the chronicles and other original documents of the middle ages, and his most valuable work was done in this field.
His principal book, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter bis zur Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts, is unrivalled as a guide to the sources of the history of Germany in the middle ages; this was first published in 1858, and has passed through several editions. Cognate works are his Anleitung zur lateinischen Paläographie (Leipzig, 1869, and again 1886); and Das Schriftwesen im Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1871, and again 1896). Wattenbach also wrote Beiträge zur Geschichte der christlichen Kirche in Böhmen und Mähren (Vienna, 1849); Geschichte des römischen Papsttums (Berlin, 1876); and Anleitung zur griechischen Paläographie (Leipzig, 1867, and again 1895).
WATTERSON, HENRY (1840), American journalist, was born in Washington, D.C., on the 16th of February 1840. His father, Harvey McGee Watterson (1811-1891), was a journalist and lawyer, and was a Democratic representative in Congress in 1839-1843. The son was educated by private tutors, and between 1858 and 1861 was editor of the Washington States and of the Democratic Review. During the Civil War he served in the Confederate army as aide-de-camp to General Nathan B. Forrest and to General Leonidas Polk in 1861-1862; he was editor of the Chattanooga Rebel in 1862-1863, and was chief of scouts in General Joseph E. Johnston's army in 1864. In 1865-1867 he was an editor of the Republican Banner, at Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1867-1868 was editor of the Journal at Louisville, Kentucky. In 1868, with W. N. Haldeman, he founded and became editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, a consolidation of the Courier (1843), the Democrat (1844), and the Journal (1830); and it soon became one of the most influential of Southern newspapers. He was a Democratic representative in Congress from August 1876 to March 1877, and was delegate at large to the National Democratic Conventions of 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888 and 1892, serving as temporary chairman in 1876, and as chairman of the platform committee in 1880 and 1888. He became widely known as a lecturer and orator. His publications include History of the Spanish-American War (1899) and The Compromises of Life (1902).
