Summer

<em>Spring</em> and <em>Summer</em> are two scenes from a series of the four seasons. Both <em>Autumn</em> and<em> Winter</em> are now in the Museu d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. These landscapes were originally a part of a screen or a decorative panel, as indicated by their floral borders and oval shape. The setting of <em>Spring</em> 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. The walkway is very similar to other scenes by Watteau known to depict the estate of his close friend and patron Crozat. As a student of Watteau, Pater would have also been familiar with this setting. <em>Summer</em> counters <em>Spring</em>'s aristocratic leisure by depicting rural labor. However, befitting the work's decorative origins, 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.