“What-ho, Watteau!” by David Platzer

“What-ho, Watteau!” by David Platzer

Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) was the most exquisite of Old Masters: he portrayed the melancholy sense that elegant pleasures are fleeting and condemned to fade. No wonder that covers of Mozart albums have been decorated with Watteau’s pictures. The Château de Chantilly’s Musée Condé holds ten Watteaus, France’s largest collection of the artist’s work outside of the Louvre. Its current exhibition “Watteau’s Worlds” presents all four Watteau p…