WATEINSON
568
WAT
Watkinson, Thomas, Venerable. See Thorpe,
Robert, Venerable.
Watteau, Jean Antoine, French painter, and founder and leader of the school usually known as that of the painters of Les Fetes Galantes, at Valen- ciennes, 1684, near Paris, 1721. Young Watteau was a very clever boy, constantly sketching, and as quite a youth was taken to the studio of G6rin, who gave him his first education. He received, however, no sympathy at home, but, on the contrary, was urged to give up draughtsmanship. He therefore left Valenciennes, and tramped to Paris, where he ar- rived without a friend or a penny, and nearly starved. At first he commenced as a sign-board painter, but in 1703 was fortunate enough to be received into the
studio of GiUot, with whom he remained for five
years, and then became the assistant of Audran,
one of the first artists of his day, and the keeper
of the Luxembourg. Audran discovered his skill,
but was inclined to keep him in his studio as a pupil
and assistant, and to prevent him engaging in
original work. Watteau, however, painted a small
military picture, called "Le Depart", which was sold
to a dealer in Paris. From the funds obtained by
this sale, Watteau revisited his parents, but quickly
returned to Paris. He then came under the notice
of M. de Crozat, who introduced him to many
artists, gave him the free run of his house and gallery,
and encouraged him. During this time Watteau
Eroduced some of his best pictures, and was received y the Academy under the title of "Le Peintre des F6tes Galantes" in 1717, when his position was at once secured. It was at this time that he produced his great picture, "The Embarkment for Cythera", which created a great sensation in Paris, and was the beginning of quite a new ejioch in art. Watteau was always more or less in poor lieallh, and two years after painting his great picture came over to London to consult Dr. Meade, for whom he painted two important pictures. lie then returned to Paris, and executed the great sign-board picture designed for his friend (lersaint, but, his health failing in Paris, he had to leave for a house which he had obtained at Nogent-sur-Marne. It was there soon after
that he died. Watteau produced a great number of
pictures, exquisite in colour, movement, composition,
and in a peculiar sense of flutter which distinguishes
his works. He was also a superb draughtsman and
left behind him a number of drawings full of fife and
piquancy. He was an engraver, responsible for
several etchings. His paintings stand quite alone
in art, representing the gay and vivacious life of the
period^ with ideal forms and circumstances, and
picturmg the frivoUty of his epoch extravagantly no
doubt, but with great beauty and extraordinary
charm. His finest works are those in Berlin, London
(the Wallace Collection), Paris (the Caze Collection),
Potsdam (the two collections at Sans Souci and the
New Palace), and the Conde Museum at Chantilly.
Besides these, there are great works by him at Bruns-
wick, Cassel, Brussels, St. Petersburgh, Nantes,
Organs, Stockholm, Dresden, Edinburgli, and Glas-
gow. The chief artists of his school were Lancret
and Pater, and their paintings approached more
nearly than any others to the works of Watteau
himself.
The chief work on Watteau is that of de .Tuuenne, a colossal volume published in Paris in 1734. Reference should also be iiiafle to a life of Watteau by Dinaitx issued in his native town in 1S34: to a treatise published at Leipzig in 1S96 by Rosenberg; .in important work issued in Berlin by Bode in 1SS3; Dilke, French Painters of the Eighteenth Century (London, 1889); the treatise on Watteau by Muntz. issued in Paris, in 1SS5; various o'.lier works on the artist by Philups, Pater, Stalet, Bl.anc, and others.
G. C. Williamson.
Waverley, Cistercian Abbey of, situated in Surrey, near Farnham, founded by William Gifford, Bishop of Winchester, on 24 Nov., 1124, was the second daughter of L'Aumone, in Normandy, and the first monastery of the Order of Ctteaux in Eng- land. This claim to priority of establishment is sometimes disputed in favour of the Abbey of Furness, but though Furness was actually founded three or four years before Waverley, yet it was then a daughter of Savigny, and was not affiliated to the Cistercian Order until the year 1147. Bishop Wilham endowed it with large possessions and, along with many other ecclesiastics and nobles, granted it ntmierous privi- leges which were confirmed and even increased by Henry de Blois, brother of King Stephen and successor of William in the episcopal office. The first century of its existence was the golden age for Waverley, in which period it founded six monasteries and, despite the number of its members thus sent away, it had 70 choir religious and 120 lay brothers in 1190. In 1201 the abbey suffered from an inundation; so that in 1203 the foundations for a new church were laid, and for a new monastery also, but on higher ground. This church was not opened until 1231, when it was dedicated with great solemnity. In 122.5 Henry III visited the abbey and, at his own request, was granted an honorary membership in the community. Waverley now became less and less important, until at the time of its su]>pression by Henry \TII (1536) it contained but thirteen religious. After the disso- lution the property passed through various hands, becomingwith each change moredesolate; the cloister was still standing in 1073, at the present time nothing but the bare site of Waverley remains.
DoDswoRTH AND DuGDALE, Muiuisticon fingticaniim, II (Lon- don, IfiS2): DcGDALE, Moimsticon anglicanum, ed. Caley. V (London. 1825); Manrique, Annales cistercienses (Lyons, 1642- 59); Jonqeijnus, Notitia abbatiarum ord. cist. (ColoKne, 1640): Tanner, Notitia monastica (I^ndon, 1744); Mart^ne and Dc- RAND, Thesaurus noims ani!cdo(on(m, IV (Paris, 1717); Walbr.vn, Memorials of the Abbey of Fountains (Durham, 1863); Ughei.u. Italia sacra, HI (Venice, 1717); Janauschek, Originum cistrr- ciensium, I (Vienna, 1877); Ltnam, The Abbey of St. Mary Croxdcn (London, 1911).
Edmund Obrecht.
Wax. Sec Agnus Dei; Candles.
Way (alias May, o^iVz.s Flower), William, Ven- EiiAJJLE, Enghsh priest and martyr, born in Exeter
