Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Pater

M. Ch. Levesque;

His posthumous sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 27–28 March 1914, lot 11 (as after Jean-Baptiste Pater);

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 30 November 1979, lot 127 (as Jean-Baptiste Pater).

F. Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater, Paris 1928, p. 60, no. 303 bis (as Jean-Baptiste Pater or a copy).

This painting can be said to illustrate Jean-Baptiste Pater's favourite subject matter. His speciality was the depiction of women bathing, usually in an outdoor setting, with a pool and architectural motifs in the foreground and mountains receding into the distance, as can be observed in the present panel. The mood is characterised by reverie and sensuality: one lady has lifted up her skirt and petticoats in order to dip her feet into the water, while the man beside her, his back turned towards the viewer, playfully props up the second woman, who leans over his shoulder to watch her female companion.

The popularity of this composition is attested to by the extant number of autograph versions, variants and later copies. One autograph version can be found in the Residenzgalerie, Salzburg.¹ A variation on this scene, as well as a direct copy after it, are both in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.²

¹ Inv. no. 581; oil on canvas, 32.50 x 40.50 cm.; https://www.domquartier.at/en/residenzgalerie-collection-online/lessay-du-bain-gallant-scene-at-the-well/

² Inv. no. 1098; oil on panel, 16.5 x 20.5 cm.; https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010059608; inv. no. 3816; oil on canvas, 30 x 40cm.; https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010056161.