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| Concert Champêtre |
Artist:Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater (French, Valenciennes 1695–1736 Paris)
Date:ca. 1734
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:20 1/2 x 26 3/4 in. (52.1 x 67.9 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1937
This delicate pastel landscape with elegant figures illustrates what Pater avowed: that he owed everything to Watteau. The ladies' dresses are more or less contemporary while the short jacket, ruff, and shoe ribbons of the man with the walking stick are reminiscent of costumes for the theater. The marble putti with a dolphin must form part of a fountain hidden in shrubbery. They underline the playful nature of the subject. The painting is one of a pair. The pendant, signed and dated 1734, is in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
Catalogue Entry
This painting of a landscape with elegant figures is typical of Pater's work and illustrates what the artist himself avowed: that he owed everything to Jean Antoine Watteau (1684–1721). It has long since been noted that the man with the beret at the extreme left is based on a figure in one of Watteau's late works, Italian Recreation (Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam). The satin costumes depicted here are more or less contemporary, while the short jacket, ruff, and shoe ribbons of the man with the walking stick refer to the theater. The marble putti with a dolphin emerging from the shrubbery at the right emphasize the playful nature of the subject. The palette of silver, rose, and slate blue is characteristic of Pater. Our landscape and its pendant, signed and dated 1734 (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid), once belonged to J. Pierpont Morgan. Very few works by Pater are signed, indicating that the commission must have been an important one.
A related pair of paintings in the collection of H. M. Queen Elizabeth II is first recorded at Buckingham House, London, in 1819, with an attribution to Watteau.
Katharine Baetjer 2010
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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