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La Bonne Aventure (The Fortune Teller)
Jean-Baptiste Pater·Date unknown
Historical Context
This painting after Jean-Baptiste Pater reproduces one of the artist's popular fête galante scenes depicting a fortune teller entertaining elegant company in a parkland setting. Pater was the only formal pupil of Antoine Watteau and continued the master's genre of aristocratic outdoor entertainments after Watteau's death in 1721. Copies of Pater's compositions circulated widely, reflecting the enduring popularity of Rococo pastoral subjects.
Technical Analysis
The oil-on-panel copy captures the pastel palette and feathery brushwork characteristic of Pater's style, though with less spontaneity than the original. The composition follows the typical fête galante format of figures arranged in a verdant landscape setting.
Provenance
Barker Bros. Studios, Los Angeles [sale document in curatorial file]; Mrs. Frank Russell, San Benito, Texas, by 1977; given to the Art Institute, 1977.
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