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Troops at Rest

ca. 1725
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 629
Pater painted subjects pioneered by his teacher, Antoine Watteau, including the fête galante and the military troops that both artists favored early in their careers. Pater’s reception piece to the French Royal Academy in 1728 was The Soldiers’ Merrymaking (Museé du Louvre, Paris). Like Watteau, Pater probably knew such subjects firsthand in the wake of Louis XIV’s waning military success, but he also took into account artistic precedents from Northern European artists. Rather than depict triumphant or heroic combat in the manner of battle painters, Pater focused on the improvised camps where soldiers slept, smoked, drank, and ate in the company of women.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Troops at Rest
  • Artist: Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater (French, Valenciennes 1695–1736 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1725
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 21 1/4 x 25 3/4 in. (54 x 65.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Ethel Tod Humphrys, 1956
  • Object Number: 56.55.2
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Troops on the March, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater French, Oil on canvas
Troops on the March
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater
ca. 1725
Halte des Troupes (Soldiers and Women in an Encampment), Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater French, Etching
Halte des Troupes (Soldiers and Women in an Encampment)
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater
18th century
Man Leaning on a Wall (recto), Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater French, Red chalk heightened with white, on blue paper
Man Leaning on a Wall (recto)
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater
early 18th century
Concert Champêtre, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater French, Oil on canvas
Concert Champêtre
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater
ca. 1734
The Golden Age, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater French, Oil on wood
The Golden Age
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater

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