It is a strange fact that but for the generosity of La Caze, _The Embarkation_ would be the only example at the Louvre of the greatest master produced by France. The reason for this extraordinary neglect may be found in the scant esteem in which Watteau was held until his eclipsed fame was resuscitated by the de Goncourts. The superb life-size painting of _Gilles_ (No. 983), one of ten pictures by or attributed to Watteau in the La Caze collection, was sold at public auction in 1826 for £26; whilst _L’Indifférent_ and _La Finette_ together realised the sum of £19 at the Marquis de Ménars’ sale! Of the eleven pictures in the La Caze collection that were originally attributed to Watteau, _L’Escamoteur_ (No. 622A, formerly No. 987) is now acknowledged to be by his imitator Philippe Mercier (1689-1760), who was born in Berlin of French parents, and spent the most productive years of his life in London, where he died in 1760. The still-life piece _Dead Game_ (No. 993), officially assigned to Watteau, has rightly been doubted; but the aspersions thrown upon the authenticity of the delicious _Pastoral_ (No. 992) do not seem sufficiently justified. The profound influence of Rubens upon Watteau’s art is nowhere more pronounced than in the sketch _The Judgment of Paris_ (No. 988), and in the beautiful oval composition _Jupiter and Antiope_ (No. 991), which has, however, also much in common with Titian. The superb nude figure symbolising _Autumn_ (No. 990), and another _fête galante_, entitled _Gay Company in a Park_ (No. 986), are no less creditable to the master’s genius. WATTEAU’S FOLLOWERS Although Watteau indicated the direction that French art was to follow in a century when it had to cater no longer for the stateapartment but for the boudoir, he left no follower worthy to carry on his tradition. Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743), who had studied under Dulin and Gillot, based his style upon Watteau, whom he almost rivalled as a draughtsman. But he was an inferior colourist, and wholly lacking in poetic inspiration. One has only to compare his _Actors of the Italian Comedy_ (No. 470) with Watteau’s _Gilles_ (No. 983), or his _Music Lesson_ (No. 468) and _Innocence_ (No. 469) with their prototypes created by that master, to realise the inferiority of these thin, vulgarised versions of Watteau subjects.