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Lot Essay
The present fête galante displays both Pater's dependence on Watteau's example and the personal qualities he brought to his art. The theme and composition are the same as can be found in Watteau's fêtes galantes, and some of the figures are nearly identical (just slightly rearranged). And yet there is something lighter and more decorative in Pater's paintings than in his master's prototypes. His brushwork is looser and more liquid, his palette of pearly pinks, silver greys, and acid blues is cooler, brighter and less autumnal than Watteau's. This difference in technique brings with it a lightening of mood and a reduction in the psychological complexity that is to be found in Watteau's paintings. Pater's paintings are not generally based on the close study of nature and instead aim to create a generalised, ornamental simulacrum of reality whose principal function is decorative. Enlivened by charming, colourfully attired figures that lack corporeal reality and individual expression, Pater's landscapes resemble no known typography but create an artificial and cheerful wonderland in which each element is included for its picturesque appeal.
The delicately drawn, fluent fête galante from the Küss collection is one of a group of more than two dozen sketchy, loosely executed paintings by Pater that have often been considered preparatory or unfinished canvases. (Among the comparable works by Pater, two can be found in the National Gallery of Art, Washington and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College; see A. Wintermute, 'Watteau, Ruins, and the Pastoral Landscape in French Painting, 1700-1750' in the exhibition catalogue, The Splendor of Ruins in French Landscape Painting 1630-1800, ed. by S. Borys, Oberlin, 2005, pp. 24-6.) It is telling that no comparable group of sketchily painted works by Watteau, Lancret or any of the other painters of the fête galante is known. While it is possible that these paintings by Pater were left unfinished at the time of the artist's death, they do not all appear to date from one time or necessarily from late in his career. Furthermore, the significant number of them that have survived and the fact that they have been admired and collected since the eighteenth century suggests that the artist and his collectors regarded them as finished works, executed in an exceptionally free manner and intended to appeal to the developing taste among sophisticated collectors for ébauches, or sketches. Like most advanced artists of the day, Pater was certainly aware of the ideas of the influential critic and art theorist Rogers de Piles (d. 1709), and the painter found support for his unfinished manner of painting in de Piles's advocacy of greater pictorial unity, his appreciation of playful eccentricities, and his admiration for the sketchy or freely brushed. Indeed, de Piles -- who himself collected oil sketches by Rubens -- was a principal advocate for the growing interest in artist's ébauches.
The delicately drawn, fluent fête galante from the Küss collection is one of a group of more than two dozen sketchy, loosely executed paintings by Pater that have often been considered preparatory or unfinished canvases. (Among the comparable works by Pater, two can be found in the National Gallery of Art, Washington and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College; see A. Wintermute, 'Watteau, Ruins, and the Pastoral Landscape in French Painting, 1700-1750' in the exhibition catalogue, The Splendor of Ruins in French Landscape Painting 1630-1800, ed. by S. Borys, Oberlin, 2005, pp. 24-6.) It is telling that no comparable group of sketchily painted works by Watteau, Lancret or any of the other painters of the fête galante is known. While it is possible that these paintings by Pater were left unfinished at the time of the artist's death, they do not all appear to date from one time or necessarily from late in his career. Furthermore, the significant number of them that have survived and the fact that they have been admired and collected since the eighteenth century suggests that the artist and his collectors regarded them as finished works, executed in an exceptionally free manner and intended to appeal to the developing taste among sophisticated collectors for ébauches, or sketches. Like most advanced artists of the day, Pater was certainly aware of the ideas of the influential critic and art theorist Rogers de Piles (d. 1709), and the painter found support for his unfinished manner of painting in de Piles's advocacy of greater pictorial unity, his appreciation of playful eccentricities, and his admiration for the sketchy or freely brushed. Indeed, de Piles -- who himself collected oil sketches by Rubens -- was a principal advocate for the growing interest in artist's ébauches.