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Jean-Baptiste Pater, The Bathers, 1728–30

doi: 10.37764/78973.5.327
Artist Jean-Baptiste Pater, French, 1695–1736
Title The Bathers
Object Date 1728–30
Alternate And Variant Titles Les Baigneuses; Fête champêtre
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions (unframed) 22 3/4 x 26 in. (57.8 x 66 cm)
Credit Line The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Purchase: aquired through the generosity of Helen Foresman Spencer, F82-35/2

Catalogue Entry

Read more about this painting at the associated catalogue entry.

Technical Entry

Citation

Chicago:

Diana M. Jaskierny, “Jean-Baptiste Pater, The Bathers, 1728–30,” technical entry in French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.5.327.2088.

MLA:

Jaskierny, Diana M. “Jean-Baptiste Pater, The Bathers, 1728–30,” technical entry. French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025. doi: 10.37764/78973.5.327.2088.

The Bathers, by Jean-Baptiste Pater, reveals much of the artist’s planning process through an elaborate that he modified as he worked through -like layers and lively brushwork. The painting was executed on a canvas and is attached to a five-member . Though the were removed, likely during an early process, pronounced is visible throughout the perimeter of the , indicating that the painting was not significantly altered in format or dimensions.

It is not entirely clear how the was applied or what the layer structure is. In many areas where the ground is visible, throughout much of the sky and some of the foreground, it appears to be a pale red-earth tone (Fig. 19). However, in the architecture and in many figures, there appears to be an off-white layer on top of the red-earth ground. It is possible that Pater applied a red-earth ground across the entirety of the canvas, while the off-white layer was used to block in the active parts of the composition.

Fig. 19. Photomicrograph of the red-earth ground layer visible through abrasion in the sky, The Bathers (1728–30)
Fig. 20. Infrared reflectograph captured at 1950 nanometers, with a white arrow indicating the fluid medium and a black arrow indicating the dry medium, The Bathers (1728–30)

reveals that two methods were used when developing the underlying drawing. Within the background, both the trees and the tall arch were sketched using a fluid medium, likely applied by brush based on the variation of line thickness. In contrast, the drawing of the figures and much of the foreground was formed with fine lines of a dry medium such as charcoal (Fig. 20). Throughout the painting, due to the thin application of paint, some of these fine lines remain visible in standard light, such as around the central figure’s feet (Fig. 21).

Fig. 21. Photomicrograph of the underdrawing visible in standard light of the original foot placement for the female figure in the yellow skirt, The Bathers (1728–30)
Fig. 22. Detail of arch in the infrared reflectogram, captured at 1950 nanometers (left) and in standard light (right), illustrating the changed position, with the black arrows indicating the original drawn placement and the white arrows indicating the final painted placement, The Bathers (1728–30)

The underdrawing reveals that multiple changes were made by the artist using both types of media. The fluid underdrawing of the background confirms that the original location of the arch’s opening was shifted slightly to the left of where Pater ultimately painted it (Fig. 22). Within the figures, more adjustments were made, specifically with the orientation of some heads. The central figure who rises the tallest among the cluster of figures was shifted, as indicated by the oval that once marked the position of her head, with a horizontal line designating the brow placement. Additionally, the second figure from the left edge was also adjusted, with her head turning toward the water as opposed to the lower left corner (Fig. 23). It is possible that Pater made this latter modification to avoid repetitive poses in relation to the right-most figure and the seated central figure, each with their heads positioned in a similar manner.

Fig. 23. Details of figures in the infrared reflectogram, captured at 1950 nanometers (left) and in standard light (right), illustrating the changed positions of heads, with arrows indicating the original drawn placements, The Bathers (1728–30)
Fig. 24. Details of the girl in The Garden Party (left; 1725–30) and the woman in The Bathers (right; 1728–30), illustrating the similarities in figures
Fig. 25. Jean-Baptiste Pater, Bathing Party in a Park, ca. 1730, oil on canvas, 25 1/4 x 33 7/16 in. (64.2 x 85 cm), The Wallace Collection, London, P426. Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. The dotted lines surround a group of figures which is simliar to that in The Bathers in the Nelson-Atkins collection.

While these changes demonstrate that Pater continued to work out his composition into the painting stage, the artist was also known for his formulaic approach to figures and architecture. Frequently reusing figures between paintings, his work has been described as “a theme with few variations.” An example of this can be found in the Nelson-Atkins paintings. In The Bathers, the head of the figure closest to the foreground is also present in The Garden Party (1725–30), though in the latter, she is portrayed as a young girl, while in the former she appears to be an adult (Fig. 24). In the painting Bathing Party in a Park (Fig. 25), a similar group of figures in the lower right corner mimics the group found in the lower right corner of the Nelson-Atkins version, The Bathers. In this instance, however, the figure previously in question has light hair and a slightly different face (Fig. 26).

Fig. 26. Comparison of the foreground woman in Bathing Party in a Park (left; The Wallace Collection, London; ca. 1730) and of the foreground woman in The Bathers (right; the Nelson-Atkins; 1728–30)
Fig. 27. Jean-Baptiste Pater, The Bathing Party, early 18th century, oil on canvas, 26 1/ 4 x 32 1/4 in. (66.8 x 81.9 cm), Toledo Museum of Art, 1954.28
Fig. 28. Comparison of the central figure in The Bathing Party (left; Toledo Museum of Art, T1954.28) and the central figure in The Bathers (right; the Nelson-Atkins; 1728–30)

One change to the Nelson-Atkins composition that was not made by the artist involves the central, kneeling woman in white, who turns backwards to look toward the viewer. As with other figures, she has also been repeated in other paintings and can be found in The Bathing Party (Fig. 27). However, a notable difference exists in the depiction of the lower portion of clothing, with the version in the Toledo Museum of Art being slightly more revealing in its length (Fig. 28). Through microscopy, a slight variation to the paint application of the Nelson-Atkins figure’s drapery was observed. Further investigation through infrared reflectography confirms that much of the drapery covering the Nelson-Atkins figure’s lower half is a later addition, indicated by the darker appearance in the (Fig. 29). In comparison to his teacher, Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721), Pater often painted playful scenes of figures with exposed bodies and more suggestive poses. The paint of this added fabric is slightly discolored in comparison to the original paint, and therefore it is unlikely that it was a change made by Pater himself. Rather, it is presumed that an early restoration was completed to create a more modest figure. Interestingly, the other suggestive bathers appear to have been left unaltered.

Fig. 29. Detail of central kneeling figure in the infrared reflectogram, captured at 1950 nanometers (left) and in standard light (right), revealing overpaint, with the black arrows indicating where the original paint likely ended, The Bathers (1728–30)
Fig. 30. Photomicrograph of the foreground woman’s red skirt, showing the thin red wash, deeper red shadows, and opaque red highlights, The Bathers (1728–30)

With active, loose brushwork and overall thin passages, the application of paint in The Bathers often resembles that of a painted sketch in comparison to the brushwork found on The Garden Party. The fabric, specifically that of the women’s skirts, was first blocked in with a thin wash, as is found in the figure nearest to the viewer. Here, the thin red wash remains clearly visible, and the texture of the canvas weave is prominent beneath it. Pater then added some deeper reds for shadows before adding an opaque red admixture to create folds and volume in the fabric (Fig. 30). To create the rich blue fabric for the skirt on the figure just right of center, a gray-brown wash was applied first, and then the folds were developed with black shadows and green-blue highlights (Fig. 31).

Fig. 31. Photomicrograph of the center-right woman’s blue skirt, showing the thin gray-brown wash, deeper black shadows, and green-blue highlights, The Bathers (1728–30)
Fig. 32. Photomicrograph of the face of the central kneeling woman, illustrating the fine brushwork, The Bathers (1728–30)

In contrast to the animated brushwork of the clothing, the figures’ heads were delicately painted with small brushes, sometimes producing lines as thin as one tenth of a millimeter. The features of the faces were formed with fine lines of brown and red paint, as is seen in the central kneeling figure (Fig. 32). Here the hair was constructed with short, thin brushstrokes, alternating highlights and shadows while allowing a lower brown wash to remain visible. Through the thinly painted hair, glimpses of underdrawing peek around the temple and ear, adding to the depth of the form.

The painting is in fair condition and has undergone multiple conservation campaigns. Likely early in its history, the painting was glue-paste lined, which appears to have extended the overall picture plane size by a few millimeters on each side. Though much of the translucency of the bathing scene is a result of the artist’s technique, is widespread across the painting. A few areas with small losses have been , with the majority of the restoration occurring along the edges and within the architecture in the proper left background.

Diana M. Jaskierny
June 2025

Notes

  1. Former conservator Forrest Bailey speculated that portions of the original tacking margins may now extend onto the picture plane due to the slight increase in size; however, this is difficult to confirm due to the extensive fill material and retouching around the edges. In the radiograph, there are no clear tack holes visible to indicate that the tacking margins are present. Forrest R. Bailey, August 25, 1982, examination report, NAMA conservation file, no. F82-35/2.

  2. David Wakefield, French Eighteenth-Century Painting (New York: Alpine Fine Arts Collection, 1984), 36.

  3. Another similar variation of this figure more closely resembling that of the Toledo Museum of Art can be found in the collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art: Les Baigneuses (Female Bathers in a Landscape), ca. 1735, https://www.artsbma.org/collection/les-baigneuses-female-bathers-in-a-landscape/.

  4. Though the garment appears to be somewhat transparent, when comparing the painting today to the image reproduced in the 1928 catalogue raisonné, it appears this restoration has increased in transparency with age. Likely, it appeared more opaque and cohesive with the figure when it was first added. Florence Ingersoll-Smouse, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater: Biographie et catalogue critiques, l’œuvre complète de l’artiste (Paris: Les Beaux-arts, 1928), 121.

  5. Pierre Schneider, The World of Watteau: 1684–1721 (New York: Time Incorporated, 1967), 76, 79–80.

  6. Pater’s works are sometimes described as being “executed in the manner of a sketch,” partially because of the speed in which he was creating the repetitious imagery, as found in The Bathers. Patrick Ramade and Martin Eidelberg, Watteau et la fête galante, exh. cat. (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2004), 186.

  7. Forrest R. Bailey, October 20, 1982, treatment report, NAMA conservation file, no. F82-35/2.

Top of section

Documentation

Citation

Chicago:

Glynnis Napier Stevenson, “Jean-Baptiste Pater, The Bathers, 1728–30,” documentation in French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.5.327.4033.

MLA:

Stevenson, Glynnis Napier. “Jean-Baptiste Pater, The Bathers, 1728–30,” documentation. French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025. doi: 10.37764/78973.5.327.4033.

Provenance

Eugène Secrétan (1836–1899), Paris, by March 1889–July 13, 1889 [1];

Purchased along with its pendant at his sale, Seventeen Ancient and Modern Pictures of the Highest Importance, Until Recently Forming Part of the Celebrated Secrétan Collection, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, July 13, 1889, no. 4, erroneously as A Fete Champetre [sic], by Boussod, Valadon, et Cie., Paris, stock no. 19985 or 19986, as Fête champêtre, July 15–December 3, 1889 [2];

Purchased from Boussod, Valadon, et Cie., by Lacroix, Paris, December 3, 1889 [3];

Marcel Bernstein (1840–1896), Paris, by June 8, 1892–1896;

Inherited by his wife Ida Bernstein (née Seligman, 1854–1921), or by descent to his son, Henry Bernstein (1876–1953), Paris, 1896–1899;

Purchased from Ida Bernstein or Henry Bernstein by Ernest Gimpel, Paris, January 27, 1899–1901 [4];

Purchased from Gimpel by François “Ernest” Cronier (ca. 1840–1905), Paris, March 22, 1901–before August 27, 1905 [5];

Returned by Cronier to Ernest Gimpel and Wildenstein, as The Bath, before August 27, 1905–March 1906 [6];

Purchased from Ernest Gimpel and Wildenstein by John Woodruff (1850–1920) and Kate (née Seney, 1868–1943) Simpson, New York, March 1906–May 16, 1920 [7];

Purchased from the estate of John Woodruff Simpson by Wildenstein and Co., New York, stock no. 1007, 1921–September 14, 1982 [8];

Purchased from Wildenstein by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1982.

Notes

[1] Secrétan’s copper syndicate collapsed in March 1889. See email from Dr. Diana Kostyrko, Australian National University, to Meghan Gray, NAMA, April 6, 2017, NAMA curatorial files. Secrétan made his first acquisitions around 1876 but only began collecting old master paintings in 1880. Due to the generalized painting titles (like Fête champêtre) used in auction catalogues at the time, it is impossible to identify the museum’s painting prior to 1889. See email from Pamella Guerdat, PhD candidate at University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, to Glynnis Stevenson, NAMA, August 11, 2021, NAMA curatorial files.

[2] The paintings were both titled A Fete Champetre in the 1889 Secrétan sales catalogue. See “Goupil et Cie/Boussod, Valadon, and Co. Stock Books, Series II. Galerie Boussod, Valadon Stock Books, 1875–1919, Livre no. 12, 1887–1891,” p. 115, stock no. 19985 or 19986, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. The pair was purchased together, and it is not clear from the stock books which painting was assigned which stock number. They were reserved for the July 13, 1889, London sale of the collection by Secrétan’s English creditors. See email from Kostyrko to Gray, April 6, 2017, NAMA curatorial files.

[3] Several possibilities for “Lacroix” are French painter Tristán Lacroix (1849–1914), active in Argentina from the end of the nineteenth century [See María Isabel Baldasarre, “Buenos Aires: An Art Metropolis in the Late Nineteenth Century,” Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 16, no. 1 (Spring 2017): https://doi.org/10.29411/ncaw.2017.16.1.2]; Gaston Lacroix (1862–1909), an industrialist who lived at 104, avenue des Champs Elysées; or Gaston Lacroix, who earned his law degree in Toulouse in 1895. All three bought pictures from Boussod, Valadon, et Cie.

[4] Henry Bernstein’s biographers note that on January 27, 1899, either Henry or his mother Ida sold the Pater pendants to Gimpel. By this time, Henry and Ida were selling of parts of the collection created by Marcel Bernstein. Georges Bernstein Gruber and Gilbert Maurin, Bernstein, le magnifique: cinquante ans de théâtre, de passions et de vie parisienne (Paris: J. C. Lattès, 1988), 18.

[5] See René Gimpel, Diary of an Art Dealer (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1966), 305–06. Cronier returned the Pater pendants to Gimpel sometime before his suicide and estate sale in 1905. See email from Kostyrko to Gray, April 6, 2017, NAMA curatorial files.

[6] Gimpel went into business with Nathan and Ernest Wildenstein, and they opened their New York branch in 1902. See email from Kostyrko to Gray, April 6, 2017, NAMA curatorial files.

[7] See email from Joseph Baillio, Senior Vice President, Wildenstein and Company, to Meghan Gray, NAMA, November 9, 2016, NAMA curatorial files.

[8] See email from Baillio to Gray, November 9, 2016, NAMA curatorial files. In the Pater catalogue raisonné by Ingersoll-Smouse, the paintings are listed as in the collection Mrs. John Woodruff Simpson (née Katherine “Kate” Seney, 1868–1943), New York. See Florence Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater (Paris: Les beaux-arts, Édition d’études et de documents, 1928), no. 51, pp. 42, 120. Simpson often lent the paintings to exhibitions in New York, including in 1915 at the Benjamin Altman Gallery. Katherine Seney Simpson and her daughter, Jean Walker Simpson (1897–1980), inherited the bulk of the Woodruff estate and likely facilitated the sale of art to Wildenstein.

Exhibitions

Cents Chefs-d’œuvre des collections françaises et étrangères, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 8–July 29, 1892, no. 32, as Le Bain.

Loan Exhibition of Fifty-nine Masterpieces of Ancient and Modern Schools, Benjamin Altman Gallery, New York, March 24–April 4, 1915, no. 39, as Le Bain.

Exposition Rococo: poésie et rêve de la peinture française au XVIIIe siècle, Otani Museum, Nishinomiya, Japan, January 14–February 12, 1978, no. 4, as Les Baigneuses.

Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-Century France, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, October 4, 1997–January 4, 1998; The Toledo Museum of Art, OH, February 15–May 10, 1998; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 31–August 23, 1998, no. 8, as The Bathers.

References

Possibly Tableaux anciens et modernes. . . .: catalogue de la collection de feu M. le duc de B[ojano] (Paris: Hôtel Drouot, January 19–20, 1882), 24, as Les plaisirs champêtres or Conversation galante.

F. G., “Galerie Sécretan,” Le Gaulois, no. 2500 (July 3, 1889): 2, as Fête champêtre or seconde Fête champêtre.

“The Secretan [sic] Sale,” Times (London), no. 32,741 (July 3, 1889): 7.

“Seventeen Secrétan Pictures,” Times (London), no. 32,746 (July 9, 1889): 11.

Catalogue of Seventeen Ancient and Modern Pictures of the Highest Importance, Until Recently Forming Part of the Celebrated Secrétan Collection (London: Christie, Manson, and Woods, July 13, 1889), B2, as A Fete Champetre [sic].

Frederick Wedmore, “The London Group of Secretan [sic] Pictures,” Academy, no. 897 (July 13, 1889): 27.

F. G., “La Vente Secrétan a [sic] Londres,” Le Gaulois, no. 2503 (July 14, 1889): 2, as Fête champêtre près d’une pièce d’eau.

L. K., “At the Secretan [sic] Sale: Scenes and Incidents of the Great Occasion,” New York Times 38, no. 11,817 (July 14, 1889): 5.

“Fine Pictures and Big Prices: The Secretan [sic] Pictures,” British Architect 32 (July 19, 1889): 52, as Fêtes Champêtre.

“Sales,” Athenaeum, no. 3221 (July 20, 1889): 104, as Fête Champêtre.

Montezuma, “My Note Book,” Art Amateur 21, no. 4 (September 1889): 66, as Fête Champêtre.

George Lafenestre and Léon Roger-Milès, Cents Chefs-d’Œuvre des Collections Françaises et Étrangères (Paris: Georges Petit, 1892), 19, 65–66, 152, (repro.), as Le Bain.

Exposition de Peinture: Cent Chefs-d’œuvre des Écoles Françaises et Étrangères (Deuxième Exposition), exh. cat. (Paris: George Petit, 1892), 36, as Le Bain.

W. Roberts, Memorials of Christie’s: A Record of Art Sales from 1766 to 1896 (London: G. Bell and Sons, 1897), 2:140.

Georges Lafenestre, Artistes et Amateurs (Paris: Société d’Édition Artistique, 1900), 315, as le Bain.

Loan Exhibition of Fifty-nine Masterpieces of Ancient and Modern Schools, exh. cat. (New York: Benjamin Altman Gallery, 1915), unpaginated, as Le Bain.

“Year’s Best Show of Art for War Aid: Owners of More Than 50 Masterpieces Join Exhibition at Altman Gallery,” New York Times 64, no. 20,878 (March 24, 1915): 11.

“A Magnificent Loan Exhibition: Masterpieces of Eighteenth Century French Art on View at the Residence of the Late Benjamin Altman,” New York Times 64, no. 20,882 (March 28, 1915): SM22, as Le Bain.

Guy Pène du Bois, “Mistresses of Famous American Collectors: The Collection of Mrs. John W. Simpson,” Arts and Decoration (March 1917): 234, 236, as Les Baigneuses.

Florence Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater (Paris: Les beaux-arts, Édition d’études et de documents, 1928), no. 318, pp. 62, 121, (repro.), as Baigneuses.

Jean Robiquet, La femme dans la peinture française, XVe–XXe siècle (Paris: Les Éditions Nationales, 1938), (repro.), as Les Baigneuses.

René Gimpel, Diary of an Art Dealer (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1966), 301, 305–06, as The Bath.

Didier Romand, “La Cote des peintres: peintures,” Gazette de l’Hôtel Drouot, no. 42 (December 8, 1972): 19, as Baigneuses.

Exposition Rococo: poésie et rêve de la peinture française au XVIIIe siècle, exh. cat. (Nishinomiya, Japan: Otani Museum, 1978), unpaginated, as Les Baigneuses.

“New Acquisitions,” Gallery Events (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (November 1982): unpaginated, as Les Baigneuses or The Bathing Party.

Donald Hoffmann, “Pater oils grace museum collection,” Kansas City Star 103, no. 43 (November 7, 1982): 9-I, (repro.), as Les Baigneuses.

Bill Marvel, “How good is the Nelson?” STAR Magazine, supplement, Kansas City Star 103, no. 186 (April 24, 1983): S26.

John Russell, “Art View: A Panoramic View of A French Master of Still Lifes,” New York Times 132, no. 45,756 (July 31, 1983): H25.

Donald Hoffmann, “Art journal: More about Oudry,” Kansas City Star 103, no. 292 (August 28, 1983): 8E.

Roger Ward, ed., A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977–1987, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1987), 122, as Les Baigneuses.

Georges Bernstein Gruber and Gilbert Maurin, Bernstein, le magnifique: cinquante ans de théâtre, de passions et de vie parisienne (Paris: J. C. Lattès, 1988), 18.

Gloria Groom, Edouard Vuillard, Painter-decorator: Patrons and Projects, 1892–1912 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993), 238n18.

Alice Thorson, “Traveling treasures: Some gallery favorites to go on tour as Nelson gears up for expansion,” Kansas City Star 118, no. 87 (December 13, 1997): E2.

Richard Rand, Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-Century France, exh. cat. (Hanover, NH: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 1997), 101–03, (repro.), as The Bathers.

Emmanuel Bénézit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs, et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays (Paris: Gründ, 2006), 10:988, as Fêtes champêtres.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 89, (repro.), as Les Baigneuses.

Diana Kostyrko, The Journal of a Transatlantic Art Dealer: René Gimpel 1918–1939 (London: Harvey Miller, 2017), 153–54, as Les Baigneuses.

Christel H. Force, ed., Pioneers of the Global Art Market: Paris-Based Dealer Networks, 1850–1950 (London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020), 241n6, as Le Bain.

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