Pastoral Feast near a Statue of Venus

Pater's Pastoral Feast near a Statue of Venus from 1728 represents his contribution to the standard fête galante repertoire, here inflected by the presence of a Venus statue that gives the gathering an explicitly erotic mythological frame. The statue as presiding deity of an outdoor feast was a device inherited from Watteau and used by Lancret and Pater to dignify the pleasures of outdoor sociability with the authority of classical precedent. The 1728 date places this toward the end of Pater's short but prolific career; he died in 1736 at only forty-one.

The Venus statue provides a vertical compositional anchor while the assembled feasters extend across the horizontal plane. Pater's pastel palette and silky figure rendering are characteristic, with the marble of the statue contrasting coolly against the warm flesh and bright fabrics of the living figures.