A Louis XVI gilt-bronze mounted mahogany and mahogany veneered table à en-cas, by Simon Oeben,

Jean-Baptiste Pater

1695 - 1736

(I) Bathers before a fountain

(II) Bathers and music players with a statue of Venus

A pair, both oil on canvas

(I) 50,5 x 60,7 cm ; 19⅞ by 23⅞ in.; (II) 50,5 x 60,2 cm ; 19⅞ by 23¾ in.

(2)

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Jean-Baptiste Pater

1695 - 1736

(I) Baigneurs devant une fontaine

(II) Baigneurs et musiciens devant la statue de Vénus

Huile sur toile, une paire

(I) 50,5 x 60,7 cm ; 19⅞ by 23⅞ in.; (II) 50,5 x 60,2 cm ; 19⅞ by 23¾ in.

(2)

Provenance
Private collection, London

Anonymous sale, Langham Palace

Where acquired by Martin Colnaghi, London

With Thomas Agnews & Sons, London

Where acquired by Rodolphe Kann, Paris, circa 1890

Collection John Pierpont Morgan, Dover House, London, in 1907 

Collection Mildred Allen, New York

By descent to Mrs Charles Allen

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 30 January 1998, lot 93

With Richard Green, London

Where acquired by Monsieur Hubert Guerrand-Hermès, 2012

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Collection particulière, Londres

Vente anonyme, Langham Palace

Où acquis par Martin Colnaghi, Londres

Thomas Agnews & Sons, Londres 

Où acquis par Rodolphe Kann, Paris, vers 1890

Collection John Pierpont Morgan, Dover House, Londres, en 1907

Collection Mildred Allen, New York

Par descendance à Madame Charles Allen

Vente anonyme, Sotheby's, New York, 30 janvier 1998, lot 93

Galerie Richard Green, Londres

Auprès de qui acquis par Monsieur Hubert Guerrand-Hermès, 2012

Literature
Lady Dilke, French Painters of the Nineteenth Century, 1899, pp. 98-99

W. Roberts, Pictures in the Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan at Princes Gate and Dover House, London: Dutch and Flemish, French, Italian, Spanish, 1907, unpaginated, repr.

F. Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater, Paris 1928, p. 63, no. 323 and 325, fig. 95-96

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Lady Dilke, French Painters of the Nineteenth Century, 1899, p. 98-99

W. Roberts, Pictures in the Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan at Princes Gate and Dover House, London: Dutch and Flemish, French, Italian, Spanish, 1907, non paginé, repr.

F. Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater, Paris, 1928, p. 63, n° 323 et 325, fig. 95-96

Catalogue note
‘All the exquisite pleasures of the eighteenth century ripple through these fête galante scenes’ wrote Florence Ingersoll-Smouse in her monograph devoted to Pater in 1928 (see Bibliography, p. 14), very aptly summarizing the impression created by this artist’s works, and especially these two charming pastoral scenes. Pater’s trademark was delicate compositions such as these, in which graceful female figures mix with groups of gallant admirers. In a lush setting, the artist has conveyed the pleasures of a lazy afternoon, beneath the benign gaze of Venus, goddess of love.

Pater acquired his mastery of these compositions under the artist who invented the genre: Antoine Watteau. Both artists came from Valenciennes and shared the Flemish culture which still survived in the city of their birth, recently reconquered by the kingdom of France after a long period of rule by the Spanish Netherlands.

Senior by eleven years, Watteau took Pater on as his pupil in Paris in 1710, but their arrangement ended swiftly and Pater was forced to return to Valenciennes. He went back to Paris in 1718, having gained the trust of some valuable patrons, in particular Edmé François Gersaint, for whom Watteau would create a shop sign. In 1721, Pater joined Watteau in Nogent-sur-Marne, and in the few months before the master’s death acquired all the skills necessary to perpetuate the painting of  fêtes galantes and to take him to the top of his career. Pater was admitted into the Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture in 1728 as a ‘painter of fêtes galantes’, a category recently created on the initiative of his deceased master, Watteau.

Although Pater shared the tradition of Flemish painting with Watteau and trained in the atelier of the genre’s inventor, he nevertheless developed his own style, which caught the eye of important patrons. After being accepted into the Académie, Pater received many prestigious commissions from aristocratic and royal families: Frederick II of Prussia would own about forty paintings by Pater, including a variant of our Bathers which is now in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (inv. NM 874). This composition has the same central group of four bathing women, but seen in mirror image.

Pater painted many works with similar subjects, in which he sometimes used the same motifs in mirror image or differently arranged: Ingersoll-Smouse lists four variants featuring the central group of female figures that appears in our two compositions (op. cit, p. 62-63, no. 318, 322, 324 and 324 bis).

For some of his figures, Pater was also inspired by his master’s models: for instance, in the Bathers and musicians by the statue of Venus, the lute player is related to the same figure in The pleasures of life by Watteau, now in the Wallace Collection in London (inv. P410): both wear costumes associated with the Commedia dell’Arte tradition.

Although Pater’s fluid brushstroke and pastel tones recall his master, he is nevertheless set apart from him by the more languorous touches in his work, breaking free from Watteau’s more demure compositions.

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« Toute la volupté raffinée du XVIII^e siècle flotte dans ces scènes de la Fête galante » écrit Florence Ingersoll-Smouse dans sa monographie consacrée à Pater en 1928 (voir Bibliographie, p. 14), résumant à merveille le sentiment qui se dégage des œuvres de l’artiste, et tout particulièrement de ces deux charmantes scènes champêtres.

Pater fait d’ailleurs sa signature de ces délicates compositions où d’élégantes figures féminines côtoient une assemblée de galants admirateurs. Dans une atmosphère luxuriante, le peintre parvient à suggérer les plaisirs d’un après-midi oisif, placé sous le regard bienveillant de Vénus, déesse de l’Amour…

Pater acquiert la maîtrise de ces compositions auprès de celui même qui en inventa le genre : Antoine Watteau. Tous deux originaires de Valenciennes, les deux peintres partagent cette culture flamande, encore bien présente dans leur ville natale tout récemment reconquise par le royaume français après avoir été longuement placée sous la domination des Pays Bas espagnols.

De onze ans son aîné, Watteau prend Pater pour élève dès 1710 à Paris, mais la cohabitation prend rapidement fin et Pater se voit contraint de retourner à Valenciennes. Il revient à Paris en 1718, ayant acquis la confiance de précieux commanditaires, notamment celle d’Edmé François Gersaint, pour qui Watteau réalisera l’enseigne de marchand. En 1721, Pater rejoint Watteau à Nogent-sur-Marne, et acquiert durant les quelques mois précédant le décès de son maître, tout le savoir-faire qui lui permettra de perpétuer le sujet des fêtes galantes e