About the Work
This painting in the Städel Museum is a typical example of the French Rococo style and the popular, light-hearted garden parties of that era. The guests are on the swings or playing games and chatting. Nobody and nothing disturbs the harmony. The artist Jean-Baptiste Pater was described as the painter of "fêtes galantes", or "courtship parties".
About the Acquisition
Baroness Mathilde von Rothschild (1832–1924), a member of the Städelscher Museums-Verein, left this painting to the Städel in her will. Her very significant art collection focused particularly on French and English painting of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The widow of the banker Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild (1828–1901), Mathilde was the richest woman in Frankfurt. She set up several foundations for charitable purposes or for the public good, and also contributed towards the founding of Frankfurt’s university.
