The Bathing Party

Artist Jean-Baptiste Pater (French, 1695-1736)

Place of OriginFrance

Dateearly 18th Century

DimensionsH: 26 1/4 in. (66.8 cm); W: 32 1/4 in. (81.9 cm)

MediumOil on canvas.

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1954.28

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 27

Label TextThe only student of Antoine Watteau (see Watteau’s La Conversation in the Museum’s collection), Jean-Baptiste Pater was greatly influenced by the older painter’s style and subject matter. However, Pater developed one of his favorite subjects, a group of bathing women, independently of his master. This playful, sensuous image conforms to the French Rococo style of the 18th century—characterized in painting by lush images of pleasure-seeking young people, a palette often dominated by pinks and blues and greens, and an overall sense of lightness and elegance. Look for the three young men spying on the bathing beauties.Published ReferencesDohme, R., "Die Austellung von Gemälden älterer Meister im Berliner Privatbesitz, die französische Schule des XVIII Jahrhunderts," Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussichen Kunstammlungen IV, 1883, p. 253.

Seidel, P., Die Kunstammlung Friedrichs des Grossen auf der Pariser Weltaustellung, 1900, Berlin, 1900, no. 19.

Seidel, P., Les collections d'oeuvres d'art francaises du XVIIIe siècle appartenant à sa majesté l'empereur d'Allemagne Roi de Prusse, Berlin, 1900, no. 83.

Foerster, C., Das Neue Palais bei Potsdam, Berlin, 1923, p. 61.

Ingersoll-Smouse, F., Pater, Paris, 1928, no. 326, fig. 102.

Phillips, Claude, Masterpieces of French Art in the XVIII Century, London, n. d., p. 9, no. 16.

"Attractions," Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin, Oct. 1954, repr.

Art News, vol. 53, Oct. 1954, p. 40, repr. (det.).

Charmet, Raymond, "L'Art Francais au Musée de Toledo," Arts Spectacles, no. 556, Feb. 22, 1956, p. 14.

Grigaut, Paul L., "Baroque and Rococo France in Toledo," Art Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 1, Spring 1956, p. 53.

"French Art 1600-1800," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 3, no. 4, Autumn 1960, p. 88.

"Details, European Paintings," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 4, no. 1, Winter 1961, repr. p. 17.

Wittmann, Otto, "L'Art Francaise au Musée de Toledo," Connaissance, no. 125, July 1962, pp. 40-47, repr. p. 44, appendix 111.

Watson, F. J. B., "Eighteenth-Century Painting and Decorative Arts," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 458, repr. fig. 9.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 123-124, pl. 197.

Vogtherr, Christoph Martin, Französische Gemälde I: Watteau, Pater, Lancret, Lajoüe, Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 2011, p. 423.

MacDonald, Heather ed., French Art of the Eighteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2016, p. 92, repr. (col.) fig. 66.

Exhibition HistoryBerlin, Die Austellung von Gemälden älterer Meister im Berliner Privatbesitz, 1883, no. 9.

Paris, Exposition Universelle, 1900.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts and New York, Wildenstein, Eighteenth Century French Painting, 1954, no. 21.

Chicago, Art Institute, Great French Paintings (In Memory of Chauncey McCormick), 1955, no. 29, repr.