Jean-Baptiste Pater

Vente anonyme, Paris, place de la Bourse, 23 octobre 1845, lot n°28 ;
Vente Comte de B. : un amateur étranger, Paris, Me Vautier, 15 mai 1854, lots n°13 et n°14 ;
Collection Pauline Lyne Stephens ;
Sa vente, Londres, Christie’s, 11 mai 1895, lots n°357 et n°358 ;
Acquis par Agnew’s, Londres ;
Collection M. A. Vagliano, Londres, 1913 ;
Sa vente, Londres, Christie’s, 15 juillet 1955, lots n°47 et n°48 (acquis par Clifford) ;
Collection Jack et Belle Linsky ; 
Leur vente, New York, Sotheby’s, 21 mai 1985, lot n°149 ;
Chez Derek Johns Ltd, Londres, en 1998 ;
Vente anonyme, Paris, Tajan, 19 décembre 2007, lot n°33 ;
Acquis à cette vente

Londres, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1913-1914, n°21 et n°22 ;
An exhibition of French painting (1600-1800), Tokyo, Galerie Ida, 1988, n°12

F. Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater, Paris, 1921, p.57, n°265 (« La danse ») et p.59, n°289 (« La balançoire »)

On the naked eye: The paintings have been re-lined on a key-stretcher. Old thin crack network. Under UV light: La Danse : A micro lifting can be noticed in the lower left corner. Few small restorations on worn areas. We can find some very small repaints on the upper left corner, under the architectural group on the left, in the hat and near the hand of thefigures group on the left, under the young lady dancing shoe at 15 cm. of the upper right angle. La Balançoire: We can notice some limited repaints on the edges. Less than a dozen repaints in the lower left angle. The cracks network above the feminine figure has been restored. Wears along the edges and oxidized varnish.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

C’est probablement à la suite d’un bref voyage de Watteau à Valenciennes en 1710 que Pater devint l’élève du maître et décida de le suivre à Paris, malheureusement pour être licencié peu de temps après en raison du mauvais caractère de son maître. Quelques années plus tard, en 1721, à la veille de sa mort, plein de remords Watteau rappela Pater à Nogent (près de Paris) avec le souhait de le former à l’art de la peinture et probablement pour lui demander de finir quelques commandes. Pater dira plus tard que c’est pendant ces quelques semaines qu’il apprit tout ce qu’il savait de l’art de peindre.
Le style de Watteau et le choix des sujets laissa une marque très forte chez Pater, qui comme son maître, se spécialisa dans les fêtes galantes ; cette paire de tableaux en est un exemple particulièrement raffiné. Nos tableaux mettent en scène des élégants jouissant de passe-temps aristocratiques comme la danse et la musique dans un jardin. Le ton léger et insouciant évoque l’intrigue amoureuse. C’est en tant que peintre de scènes galantes que Pater fut agréé en 1715 puis reçu à l’Académie royale de Peinture et de Sculpture de Paris en 1728, une catégorie qui fut créé en 1717 pour Watteau, le pionnier du genre.
A la mort de Watteau en 1721, les commandes de Pater augmentèrent considérablement et il jouit d’un succès considérable. En 1736 il reçut une commande royale, la Chasse du Tigre pour la salle à manger des Petits Appartements du Château de Versailles. Frédéric le Grand fut un collectionneur très actif : il acquit plus d’une quarantaine d’œuvres de Pater, incluant sa célèbre série de quatorze œuvres illustrant le Roman comique de Paul Scarron, aujourd’hui au Schloss Charlottenburg à Berlin. C’est précisément pour des scènes comme celles que nous présentons que Pater fut si admiré de son vivant.

Cette paire de tableaux a appartenu au XIXe siècle à Pauline Lyne-Stephens (née Duvernay), célèbre ballerine française qui eut une fulgurante carrière à Paris et à Londres et épousa le banquier anglais Stephen Lyne-Stephens, un des hommes les plus riches d’Angleterre. Il acheta 8 000 hectares à Lynford dans le Norfolk, afin d’y créer une résidence de chasse et il commanda à l’architecte William Burn la création du Lynford Hall en 1857 (voir fig.1) . A la mort de Stephen Lyne-Stephens, en 1861, sa femme hérita de son immense fortune et s’installa définitivement à Lynford Hall. Après sa mort en 1894, sa collection entière répartie entre Lynford Hall, Upper Grove House (Roehampton) et son appartement de Paris fut dispersée dans une série de ventes qui eurent lieu à Londres et durèrent neuf jours. 

It was probably following a brief trip by Watteau to Valenciennes in 1710 that Pater was apprenticed to the elder master and followed him to Paris, only to be dismissed soon after as a result of his master’s difficult temperament. Several years later, in 1721, the dying Watteau called Pater to Nogent near Paris full of remorse and with a desire to teach his former pupil the art of painting and perhaps seek his assistance to complete a number of commissions. Pater would later claim that it was during those few weeks that he learned everything that he knew about painting.

Watteau’s style and choice of subject matter left an indelible mark on Pater who, like his master, specialised in fêtes galantes, of which the present paintings are particularly fine examples. The scenes depict elegant figures dressed in refined costumes enjoying daily past-times of dancing to music and playing on a swing within a natural outdoor setting. The mood is light and carefree and the scenes are filled with amorous intrigue. It was specifically as a painter of fêtes galantes that Pater was approved in 1725 and then received by the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris in 1728, a category that had been created for Watteau, who had pioneered the genre, in 1717.
Following the death of Watteau in 1721 Pater experienced increasing demand for his work and he came to enjoy considerable success. In 1736 he received a royal commission to paint a Tiger Hunt for the dining room of the Petite Appartements at the Château de Versailles and his work was widely collected by Frederick the Great, who acquired more than forty works by Pater, including his celebrated series of fourteen small works illustrating Paul Scarron’s Roman Comique, today in Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin. It was precisely for scenes such as the present exquisite pair of fêtes galantes however that Pater was so admired during his lifetime as also today.

During the late 19th century the paintings belonged to Mrs Pauline Lyne-Stephens (née Duvernay), a celebrated French ballet dancer who following a highly successful career in Paris and London married the English banker Stephen Lyne-Stephens, one of the richest men in England. He bought 8,000 acres at Lynford in Norfolk, which he intended to develop into a hunting retreat, and in 1857 commissioned the building of Lynford Hall (see fig. 1) from the architect William Burn. Following Lyne-Stephens’ untimely death in 1861 his wife inherited his fortune and lived at Lynford Hall.
Upon her death in 1894 her entire collection was sold from Lynford Hall, Upper Grove House in Roehampton and her apartment in Paris in a series of sales that took place in London over a period of nine days.