Troops on the March

Troops on the March

Troops on the March

Artist:Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater (French, Valenciennes 1695–1736 Paris)
Date:ca. 1725
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:21 1/4 x 25 3/4 in. (54 x 65.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Ethel Tod Humphrys, 1956

A pupil of Watteau, Pater was born to the north at Valenciennes, an area which, having belonged to the Spanish Netherlands, had been restored to France in 1678. The wars of Louis XIV had ravished the northern territories and Pater would have seen the aftermath. As young men, he and Watteau both painted military subjects. The marchers, closely observed, wear contemporary dress and carry weapons and ammunition bags. Camp followers with babies, pots and pans, and pet dogs walk and ride beside them.

Catalogue Entry
Pater submitted a military subject to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture as his reception piece in 1728, but troop pictures, which date from his early years, represent only a fraction of his oeuvre. He often painted them in pairs (see also 56.55.2) and they show, in addition to soldiers, camp followers, women, often with babies in arms, and small children. The soldiers, mostly of the lower ranks, are not uniformly dressed, but wear coats of various colors; they carry sabers, muskets, pikes, and ammunition bags. They are accompanied by victuallers with wagons of provisions. The figures are minutely painted in a tight, descriptive style. The mood is somber and the overall tone darker than usual for Pater. The rolling landscapes that make up the backgrounds are furnished with dilapidated houses, towers, walls, and fences set among filmy trees, all clearly imaginary.

Katharine Baetjer 2010

Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org