JEAN-BAPTISTE PATER

Anonymous sale ("Property of a Gentleman"), London, Christie's, 12 July 1879, lot 102 (as Watteau)

With Gimpel & Wildenstein, New York

Where acquired by William Salomon, New York, after 1903

His sale, New York, The American Art Association, 14-17 April 1923, lot 377, where acquired by William Chester (possibly on behalf of the below)

Mrs. William Salomon, New York

Her sale, New York, The American Art Association, 4-7 January 1928, lot 764, where acquired by R. Rosenfeld

With Wildenstein & Co., New York

By whom sold to the Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri in 1934

By whom deaccessioned ("sold by Order of the University Trustees of the William Rockhill Nelson Trust, Kansas City, Missouri") and sold, New York, Christie's, 15 January 1986, lot 69

With Galerie Segoura, Paris

There acquired in 1991

F. Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater, Paris 1928, cat. no. 594, p. 85, reproduced p. 195, fig. 173

The William Rockhill Nelson Collection Housed in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City 1940, p. 40, 46

The William Rockhill Nelson Collection Housed in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City 1949, p. 60

H. Adhémar and R. Huyghe. Antoine Watteau, sa vie—son oeuvre, Paris 1950, p. 215, under cat. no. 120

M. Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, London 1957, p. 223, under cat. no. 2962

Nelson-Atkins Museum: Handbook of the Collection, Kansas City 1959, cat. no. 196

G. Macchia and E. C. Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau, Milan 1968, p. 120, under cat. no. 196

R. T. Coe, “The Baroque and Rococo in France and Italy,” Apollo, 96, December 1972, p. 538

M. Eidelberg, Watteau Abecedario, http://watteau-abecedario.org/accpcopies.htm, 2014. 

ENGRAVED

C.-N. Cochin

This charming fête galante epitomizes Pater’s elegant style and favorite subject matter. Using his distinctive feathery brushwork, with richly colored figures set against pale, misty backgrounds, he created depictions of a charmed and idealized rustic world.  Here, elegantly clad figures lounge about in lush landscapes, with seemingly no cares, playing music, strolling through gardens and flirting with one another. His teacher, Jean-Antoine Watteau, created this genre and Pater successfully continued the tradition; indeed Pater copied a number of compositions by Watteau, the present example included.¹  

1. The original by Watteau is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, inv. no. AC1999.18.1 https://collections.lacma.org/node/188655