Summer

Jean-Baptiste Pater's Summer (c. 1720-1736) belongs to a set of seasonal allegories that reinterpret the traditional Four Seasons theme through the fête galante genre. Rather than mythological or agricultural symbolism, Pater depicts summer as a time of leisured outdoor pleasure for elegantly dressed aristocrats in lush garden settings. These decorative works were designed for the hôtels particuliers of Parisian collectors, where suites of seasonal paintings served as fashionable interior decoration. Pater, Watteau's only formal student, became one of the primary suppliers of this genre to the French art market after his master's death in 1721.

Pater's brushwork achieves the shimmering, iridescent quality of silk through small, rapid touches of contrasting color, with the warm golden tonality of the summer setting created through layered glazes over a warm ground.