Xico Greenwald reviews Watteau’s Soldiers: Scenes of Military Life in Eighteenth-Century France at The Frick Collection, New York, on view through October 2, 2016.

Greenwald writes: “The paintings gathered here might have been integral to Watteau’s artistic development. Perhaps these early experiments composing figures outdoors sparked the idea for fête galante scenes, with wounded soldiers swapped out for musicians and amorous couples. And perhaps his early exposure to the realities of war blessed him with a more sober outlook than his Rococo followers, helping him avoid the saccharine sensibility of his imitators.”