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Pater, Jean-Baptiste
(b Valenciennes, 29 Dec 1695; d Paris, 25 July 1736). French painter and draughtsman. He was taught in Valenciennes by Jean-Baptiste Guidé (master 1697; d 1711) and also by his father, Antoine Pater (1670–1747), a sculptor whose portrait was painted by Antoine Watteau (Valenciennes, Mus. B.-A.), who was also a native of Valenciennes. He probably followed Watteau to Paris after the short stay that the latter made in Valenciennes around 1710. Pater thus became a pupil of Watteau. Watteau’s difficult character led to Pater’s dismissal. He then spent a few hard years on his own in Paris, before returning to Valenciennes around 1715 or 1716. He tried to work independently of the local corporation of St Luc, of which he was not a member; a number of comical legal difficulties ensued, and Pater returned to Paris in 1718. There he must have been in contact with Watteau, since he worked for some of the latter’s clients, such as the dealers Pierre Sirois and Edmé-François Gersaint, and the collector Jean de Jullienne. In the spring of 1721 the dying Watteau called Pater to him at Nogent, near Paris, apparently full of remorse for his previous attitude and wishing to instruct him in the basic tenets of his painting, and perhaps also to enlist his help in completing commissions that his failing strength did not allow him to finish himself. Pater later claimed to have learnt everything he knew during those few weeks.
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