[Illustration:  Diagram XXIV.

SHOWING THE PRINCIPLE ON WHICH THE MASS OR TONE RHYTHM OF THE
COMPOSITION REPRODUCED ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE IS ARRANGED]

[Illustration:  Plate XLVII.

L’EMBARQUEMENT POUR CYTHERE.  WATTEAU (LOUVRE)

A typical example of composition founded on gradated tones. (See analysis on opposite page.)

Photo Hanfstaengl]

But Watteau’s great accomplishment was in doing this without degenerating into feeble prettiness, and this he did by an insistence on character in his figures, particularly his men.  His draperies also are always beautifully drawn and full of variety, never feeble and characterless.  The landscape backgrounds are much more lacking in this respect, nothing ever happened there, no storms have ever bent his graceful tree-trunks, and the incessant gradations might easily become wearisome.  But possibly the charm in which we delight would be lost, did the landscape possess more character.  At any rate there is enough in the figures to prevent any sickly prettiness, although I think if you removed the figures the landscape would not be tolerable.

But the followers of Watteau seized upon the prettiness and gradually got out of touch with the character, and if you compare Boucher’s heads, particularly his men’s heads, with Watteau’s you may see how much has been lost.

The following are three examples of this gradated tone composition (see pages 210 [Transcribers Note:  Diagram XXIV], 213 [Transcribers Note:  Diagram XXV], 215 [Transcribers Note:  Diagram XXVI]): 

Watteau:  “Embarquement pour L’Ile de Cythere.”

This is a typical Watteau composition, founded on a rhythmic play of gradated tones and gradated edges.  Flat tones and hard edges are avoided.  Beginning at the centre of the top with a strongly accented note of contrast, the dark tone of the mass of trees gradates into the ground and on past the lower right-hand corner across the front of the picture, until, when nearing the lower left-hand corner, it reverses the process and from dark to light begins gradating light to dark, ending somewhat sharply against the sky in the rock form to the left.  The rich play of tone that is introduced in the trees and ground, &c., blinds one at first to the perception of this larger tone motive, but without it the rich variety would not hold together.  Roughly speaking the whole of this dark frame of tones from the accented point of the trees at the top to the mass of the rock on the left, may be said to gradate away into the distance; cut into by the wedge-shaped middle tone of the hills leading to the horizon.

Breaking across this is a graceful line of figures, beginning on the left where the mass of rock is broken by the little flight of cupids, and continuing across the picture until it is brought up sharply by the light figure under the trees on the right.  Note the pretty clatter of spots this line of figures brings across the picture, introducing light spots into the darker masses, ending up with the strongly accented light spot of the figure on the right; and dark spots into the lighter masses, ending up with the figures of the cupids dark against the sky.