The Guitarist (1720s): Art, History and Details

The Guitarist (1720s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jean-Baptiste Pater (French, 1695–1736).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Like his illustrious master, Watteau, Jean-Baptiste Pater specialized in fêtes galantes, paintings that featured elegantly attired men and women in bucolic settings engaged in decorously amorous play. Also like his teacher, Pater worked out his preliminary ideas in red chalk studies. During the 17th century, guitar virtuosos from Italy and Spain made their way to the court of Louis XIV, and by the 18th century, the instrument had become integrated into French culture of gallantry and featured prominently in fêtes galantes.

Object facts

• Title: The Guitarist
• Date: 1720s
• Creator attribution: Jean-Baptiste Pater (French, 1695–1736)
• Culture: France
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: red chalk
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1933.416

A detail from the museum

Jean-Baptiste Pater worried excessively about his finances and made a prolific number of artworks as a result, with the intention of selling them.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.