Spring

<em>Spring</em> and <em>Summer</em> 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 <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. <em>Summer</em> counters <em>Spring</em>'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.