painters from this period include Antoine Watteau, considered the inventor of the fête galante, Nicolas Lancret and François Boucher, known for his gentle pastoral and galant scenes. Pastel portrait painting became particularly fashionable in Europe at the time and France was the major center of activity for pastellists, with the prominent figures of Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Jean-Baptiste Perronneau and the Swiss Jean-Étienne Liotard. The Louis XV style of decoration, although already apparent at the end of the last reign, was lighter with pastel colors, wood panels, smaller rooms, less gilding, and fewer brocades; shells, garlands, and occasional Chinese subjects predominated. The Chantilly, Vincennes and then Sèvres manufactures produced some of the finest porcelain of the time. The highly skilled ébénistes, cabinet-makers mostly based in Paris, created elaborate pieces of furniture with precious wood and bronze ornaments that were to be highly praised and imitated in all of Europe. The most famous are Jean-François Oeben, who created the work desk of king Louis XV in Versailles, Bernard II van Risamburgh and Jean-Henri Riesener. Highly skilled artists, called the ciseleur-doreurs, specialized in bronze ornaments for furniture and other pieces of decorative arts - the most famous being Pierre Gouthière and Pierre-Philippe Thomire. Talented silversmiths like Thomas Germain and his son François-Thomas Germain created elaborate silverware services that were highly praised by the various royalties of Europe. Rooms in châteaux and hôtels particuliers were more intimate than during the reign of Louis XIV and were decorated with rocaille style boiseries (carved wood panels covering the walls of a room) conceived by architects like Germain Boffrand and Gilles-Marie Oppenord or ornemanistes (designers of decorative objects) like Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier. The most prominent architects of the first half of the century were, apart Boffrand, Robert de Cotte and Ange-Jacques Gabriel, who designed public squares like the place de la Concorde in Paris and the place de la Bourse in Bordeaux in a style consciously inspired by that of the era of Louis XIV. During the first half of the century, France replaced Italy as the artistic centre and main artistic influence in Europe and many French artists worked in other courts across the continent. The latter half of the eighteenth century continued to see French preeminence in Europe, particularly through the arts and sciences, and the speaking the French language was expected for members of the European courts. The French academic system continued to