The Fête Galante

ca. 1772

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 641

This painting engages a complex cultural situation: in 1714, the French-descended Bourbons took control of the Spanish throne, ruling a country proud of its rich artistic heritage under the previous dynasty. Paret has adapted French painter Watteau’s amorous garden scenes to Spain by including a strolling couple that references a famous painting by Rubens and a majo, the folk character playing a bandurria that would later be one of the stereotypical images of Spain popularized by Goya. This painting was made at the height of Paret’s success at court, just before a political misstep led to his exile in Puerto Rico, where he taught his idiosyncratic enamel-like technique to José Campeche, the country’s first painter in the European tradition.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Catalogue Entry

Provenance

Title: The Fête Galante
Artist: Luis Paret y Alcázar (Spanish, Madrid 1746–1799 Madrid)
Date: ca. 1772
Medium: Oil on wood
Dimensions: 19 3/8 × 22 1/2 in. (49.2 × 57.2 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions Fund; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; Victor Wilbour Memorial Fund; and funds from various donors, 2025
Object Number: 2025.300
Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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