PATER, Jean Baptiste Joseph
(b. 1695, Valenciennes, d. 1736, Paris)

Relaxing in the Country

1730-35
Oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes

The Relaxing in the Country (Les Délassements de la campagne) is in the tradition of the 'fêtes galantes' of Watteau, Pater's teacher. It has a pendant, Concert Champêtre, also in Valenciennes. Although in the nineteenth century it was claimed that the pair of paintings were painted for Louis XV, there is no real evidence they have any connection to Louis XV.