Man Leaning on a Wall (recto) 1705 - 1736

Curator: Here we have Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater’s, “Man Leaning on a Wall.” Likely created sometime between 1705 and 1736, this study is rendered in chalk and pastel on paper, a glimpse into the rococo period’s fascination with capturing ephemeral moments. Editor: He looks awfully bored. Like a powdered-wig teenager being forced to attend a courtly function. There's this sort of languid slouch – even the color has a faded, world-weary quality to it. Curator: Well, there is a bit of the theatrical here. The dramatic sweep of the cloak, the hand resting just so upon the cheek, that elegant, slightly bored gaze... Pater was deeply influenced by the theater and the "fêtes galantes"—courtly entertainments—popular in that era. He aimed to infuse everyday life with a sense of the dramatic and the stylish, reflecting those values in society. Editor: So it’s less boredom, and more, "effortless grace requires a break now and then"? That cloak, though! It feels almost too large, swallowing him up in folds. Is that meant to emphasize his, you know, ennui, his world-weariness? Curator: I think it's more about displaying mastery of technique and how form could be manipulated. But this was, of course, an age steeped in self-fashioning, image management at court was EVERYTHING. Perhaps, rather than simple boredom, we are seeing a performance of nonchalance. Think of it as 18th-century social media—carefully curated! And also the angle—we are made to look up at the character giving a slight advantage to the social importance of this type. Editor: It’s funny; I initially saw someone resigned. But knowing what you say, it's now an exercise in carefully constructing an image, not just on paper, but in life! Even down to that languid posture, the slightly pouty expression. Makes me wonder how much of what we consider “natural” is really just us, performing for each other, even now. Curator: It gives one pause, doesn't it? All those carefully chosen Instagram filters, not that different perhaps. It is all very much related to the institutional contexts shaping art creation during the era of growing monarchic and court influence. Editor: Indeed. It gives me a renewed appreciation to find resonance of then in the present, despite time or cultures separating the experience of image and social performance.