The Country Dance  1710

In this, his earliest known painting, Watteau draws inspiration from scenes of fairs, peasant weddings and country dances by Flemish painters like Peter Paul Rubens and David Teniers. Compared to their Flemish forebears, however, Watteau's dancing villagers are more civilized and courtly. Rustic music, which frequently accompanies drunkenness and debauchery in Flemish art,...