Jean-Baptiste Pater (Valenciennes 1695-1736 Paris)

Although the present painting has been paired with the previous lot at least since the nineteenth century, when the two pictures entered the Rothschild collections, and were considered pendants by Florence Ingersoll-Smouse when she published them in 1928 (loc. cit.), it is unlikely that they were conceived in tandem, as they are on different supports. Nevertheless, they make the happiest of 'married' pairs, and the central couples in each appear nearly identical, right down to their shimmering silks. In the present picture, a mandolin player and a flautist serenade a seated woman in a garden as she holds sheet music on her lap; the masked Harlequin watches the scene jealously over the heads of a couple of embracing lovers. Here, all of the characters but one (the withdrawing woman in a tocque) wear ruffs around their necks in the manner of theatrical costuming of the early eighteenth century. Like the previous lot, Le concert is a fête galante in the 'style Watteau', rather than an illustration of a scene from a particular play or stage performance.

The easy humour that characterizes the art of Pater is in evidence in both Conversation galante and Le concert, as is his unmistakable palatte of pearly pinks, silvery greys, milky ivories and acid blues. The beautiful state of Rothschild Paters has meant that the fine touch and feathery brushwork that characterize the artist's best works, but which is so often lost in overcleaning, has been immaculately preserved.