The Fair at Bezons

Jean Baptiste Joseph Pater  (French, Valenciennes 1695–1736 Paris)

Date: ca. 1730  The fair that is its subject was held each year at Bezons, a village near Versailles, on the first Sunday in September. An occasion for an outing in the country when the weather was fine, this fair inspired a stage play, a ballet-pantomime, The principal dancer may be Mademoiselle d’Angeville, a famous actress. Just behind her and to the left are performers from the French and Italian comic theatres, including Pierrot, in a white suit and ruff; to the right, a costumed monkey performs on a stage. The audience comprises small figures, people from all classes of society, in contemporary dress, eating, drinking, and making music. The stone buildings and elegant ruins engulfed in dense foliage are imaginary, and typical of Pater’s work, whatever his theme.