2-741-805 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Spring, ca. 1720-36. Spring and Summer are two scenes from a four-season series. These landscapes were originally a part of a screen or a decorative panel, indicated by their floral borders and oval shape. The setting of Spring is believed to be the grounds of Montmorency, the country estate of Pierre Crozat (1665-1740), a wealthy financier and art collector in early eighteenth-century Paris. Summer counters Spring 's aristocratic leisure by depicting rural labor. Befitting the work's decorative origins, however, Pater's scene belongs to the tradition of the timeless pastoral. More idyllic than a statement about class differences, the reapers peacefully gather sheaves of wheat as shepherds rest with their flocks in the foreground.