Fête Champêtre

18th or 19th century

after Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater

Associated Names
Anonymous Artist

Painter

Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater

Artist After, French, 1695 - 1736

This painting shows a group of people gathered outdoors, surrounded by dark, olive-green trees. Elegantly dressed people with light skin interact, two standing in the center in between groups sitting on the left and right. In the center are a woman in a flowing yellow gown and a man with a green cape and a red cap with a tall white feather. The people sitting on either side, including men, women, and children, look towards the two in the center or turn towards each other, speaking. In the distance on the right, there is a gap between the tall trees, revealing a blue sky with white clouds above light-green grass and a few clusters of white buildings and towers with red roofs. The distant landscape gradually fades into a hazier, bluish tone towards the horizon.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Timken Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 38.1 x 47 cm (15 x 18 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1960.6.14

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Baron de Beurnonville, Paris.[1] Eugene Fischhof, Paris; (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 14 June 1913, no. 39). (Dr. Curt Benedict and Co., Berlin), possibly by 1927;[2] William R. Timken [1866-1949], New York; by inheritance to his widow, Lillian Guyer Timken [1881-1959], New York; bequest 1960 to NGA.
[1] This information is in the 1914 Fischhof sale catalogue. It is not certain which of the barons de Beurnonville owned the painting; there were numerous sales by the family in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
[2] The Benedict & Co. prospectus for the painting includes an expertise by W. Bode dated October 1927. In 1935 the Berlin branches of the Margraf firm (van Diemen, Dr. Benedict & Co., Dr. Otto Burchard & Co.; Altkunst Antiquitäten) were liquidated by order of the Nazis, with sales organized by Graupe on 25 January and 26 April, and a further sale on 12 October 1937. This picture did not figure in any of the liquidation sales.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1967

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences (now Chrysler Museum), Virginia, 1967-1972.

1979

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1979-1981.

Bibliography

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 100, as by Pater.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 87, repro., as Pater

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 262, repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 301, repro.

2009

  • Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 81, 371-373, color repro.

Inscriptions

On lining fabric: stamped in black ink, "DOUANE CENTRAL". On stretcher: stamped: "DOUANE CENTRAL," with an illegible date in the center of the circular stamp. On stretcher: small piece of paper, "No. 32"; small adhesive label, "No. 10, Pater".

Wikidata ID

Q20177701

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