Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater

Having undergone initial training at the hands of both his father, the sculptor Antoine Joseph Pater, and Jean-Baptiste Guidez, Jean-Baptiste Pater spent a brief period in 1711 working in the studio run by Antoine Watteau, who gave him further instruction as of 1718 and exerted a crucial influence on his work. Pater produced a large number of paintings in the genre of fêtes galantes pioneered by Watteau as well as theatre and bathing scenes, pictures of soldiers and landscapes. After Watteau’s death Pater copied his paintings and completed those that had been left unfinished.

The present eminently rare etching is the painter’s sole print. A sheet, which was once classified as a second state, is in fact a copy by an anonymous artist. Set against a scenic background are two tents on the right, in front of which resting soldiers are engaged in conversation in the company of sutlers and female companions. The figures are portrayed with wonderful spontaneity; Pater’s narrative verve is apparent in various scenes that capture a moment of relief and light-heartedness in the soldiers’ camp. The style is both free and animated and, with the help of the cloudy areas and their deeper etched shadows, the artist produces a momentary, flickering, atmospheric image in the Rococo style. A very fine, lively and tonal impression with margins around the partly inky platemark. Minor ageing, otherwise in excellent condition.

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