The guitar player

Details

Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Pater (Valenciennes 1695-1736 Paris)
The guitar player
with number '76' in pen (lower left)
red chalk
5 ¾ x 5 in. (14.5 x 13 cm.)

Provenance

Camille Groult, Paris (1837-1908) and by descent to his son Jean Groult (1868-1951);
Pierre Bordeaux-Groult.
Anonymous sale; Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 19 December 1958, lot 58 bis.
Anonymous sale; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 December 1960, lot 66.
Anonymous sale; Palais Galliera, Paris, 30 March 1963, lot 42 (reproduced on the cover).
with Charles E. Slatkin Galleries, New York; where acquired by the late owners, 1966.

Exhibited

New York, Charles E. Slatkin Galleries, Drawings/Pastels/Watercolors, 1967, no. 52

Special notice

On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. This is a lot where Christie’s holds a direct financial guarantee interest.

Lot Essay

Possibly inspired by Watteau's Le Conteur, this drawing offers a rare depiction of a woman playing the guitar. Executed with Pater's signature technique in red chalk, the sheet is numbered '76' at lower left, indicating its provenance from the so-called 'Groult album', which originally contained more than 500 sheets by Pater and Watteau (P. Rosenberg, 'L'album Groult, dit aussi album Lepeltier', in Preussen: die Kunst und das Individuum. Beiträge gewidmet Helmut Borsch-Supan, Berlin, 2003, pp. 29-39).

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