Louis Joseph Watteau (10 April 1731 - 17 August 1798), known as the Watteau of Lille (a title also given to his son) was a French painter active in Lille.

Portrait by Henri A. C. de Mailly, 1798

Watteau was born in Valenciennes. His father Noël Joseph Watteau (1689-1756) was brother to Jean-Antoine Watteau, a painter of fêtes galantes, and he was himself father to the painter François Watteau.

He played a decisive role in the foundation of what would become the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille, opened in 1803, by producing the first ever inventory of paintings confiscated by the state during the French Revolution.

He died in Lille, aged 67.

Works edit

Bibliography edit

  • Mabille de Poncheville.
  • Claude-Gérard Marcus.
  • Gaëtane Maës, Les Watteau de Lille, Paris, 1998.
  • Vollmer, Hans, ed. (1942). "Watteau, Louis Joseph". Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler (in German). Vol. 35. Leipzig: E. A. Seemann. p. 197.

External links edit