Banter in the grove of Bacchus, attributed to Philippe Mercier (1689-1760)

Philippe Mercier (1689-1760), school of Antoine Watteau. Banter in the grove of Bacchus.

Re-lined canvas of 81 cm by 54 cm
Frame of 97 cm by 70 cm

Our painting is attributed to Philippe Mercier who without being a student of Antoine Watteau (he did not really have any) painted numerous paintings in the style of Watteau (there are also many painters who have done it including Nicolas Lancret, Jean-Baptiste Pater, Pierre Antoine Quillard, Michel Barthélémy Ollivier, Bonaventure de Bar…) Alongside his paintings according to Watteau, he also painted scenes more in the taste of English painting, particularly in the way of painting the faces.

Philippe Mercier (1689-1760)

We can hardly consider Philippe Mercier as a French painter. Born in Berlin into a family of French Huguenots, he trained there with Antoine Pesne, who, French by birth, himself spent almost his entire career in Germany. He made a trip to Italy, probably passed through France and settled in London c. 1716 and spent the rest of his life there. It is claimed that he met Watteau during the latter's stay in the English capital, around 1720. In any case, Watteau's influence was decisive for Mercier; he continued it, without having strictly speaking been its student, and certain works by Mercier could pass for Watteau: witness L'Escamotor du Louvre, which comes from the La Caze collection, where he wore a attribution to Watteau. In fact, whether in his portraits or in his genre scenes, Mercier accentuates the puppet character of Watteau's characters and his art is not without kinship with that of Pietro Longhi, if not even Hogarth in its somewhat or little caricature. Mercier is poorly represented in French museums; you have to go to London to study it, at the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. His first "conversation pieces", or group portraits, so appreciated by British amateurs, date from 1725-26. He then enjoyed rapid success and in 1729 became "Principal Painter to the Prince of Wales", Frederick, one of the propagators of rococo in England. He then worked for the royal family (the Prince of Wales and his sisters, 1733, London, NPG) but lost the favor of the Court in 1736. He then settled in York (1739-1751) and subsisted without difficulty thanks to his portraits (the Burton Family or Interior Scene at the Squirrel, Paris, Louvre) and his gallant, rural or familiar scenes (the Five Senses, United States, Mellon coll.; the Music Session, London, Tate Gal.; la Couseuse, id.; le Jeune Dégustateur, Paris, Louvre). His works show a direct influence of Watteau (l'Escamotor, Paris, Louvre). But they retain a very British character. After a short stay in Portugal (1752), Mercier returned to live in London. It is representative of the numerous Franco-English artistic contacts in the first half of the 18th century.