Poesia and the Fete Champêtre

Abstract

THE painting known as the Fête Champêtre or the Concert Champêtre, which is usually attributed to Giorgione,¹ was transferred, during the French Revolution, from the royal collection at Versailles to the Louvre, where it hangs today (Fig. 1).² The present titles of the painting have identified it for more than a century and a half, since shortly after it changed ownership; before 1800 it was known more simply as Pastorale.³ These two forms of its title stand for two different interpretations of its subject, those presently used describing the activities of the people out-of-doors, the earlier one bringing out the poetic appearance of the scene as a whole. In a “fête champêtre,” as in any social occasion held sur l'herbe, we may expect to find lingering traces of the artificiality of indoor life; in a “pastorale” the event will seem rather to be spontaneous, arising typically from the mood which has been engendered by the delightful surroundings.