an ecclesiastic kneeling before him in a red robe, covered with a
transparent alb, a palm resting on his right arm. The other represents a
dead body on a rug, half-covered with a shroud. Above, on a scroll, are
the lines

Da requiem cunctis, Deus, hic et ubique sepultis,
Ut sint in requie, propter tua vulnera quinque.

In 1782 the provost of Valenciennes, the baron Pujol de Lagrave, who
served as provost till 1789, and again after the capture of the city by
the Duke of York, established here a school of art not unworthy the
birthplace of Watteau and of Pater. Both of these painters are
represented in the collection, the former by a characteristic little
'Conversation under the Trees in a Park' and by an interesting portrait
of the sculptor Pater, the father of the painter. The two families of
Watteau and of Pater lived on terms of such friendly intimacy at
Valenciennes that the father of Pater sent his son up to Paris, to study
his art under Watteau.

Watteau received his young compatriot so coldly, and made things so
unpleasant for him, that he soon went back discouraged, to resume his
career at home. There he encountered the hostility of the local
corporation of St. Luke, that guild of painters refusing to allow him to
practise his art without regularly passing through his apprenticeship,
and taking his 'master's degree.' Pater resisted, and the case went
before the magistracy of Valenciennes, before the Provincial Council of
Hainault, and finally before the Parliament of Flanders. It was
contested for several years, and finally resulted in an arrangement,
under which Pater bound himself never to paint in Valenciennes, 'under
any pretext whatsoever.' He might go to Paris and paint as much as he
liked, but in Valenciennes painting was the privilege of the corporation
of St. Luke. This has a pre-Adamite sound in modern ears. But even now
no man may lawfully kill or cure the sick in London or Paris or New York
without a diploma, despite the 'epoch-making' principles of 1879. And
the new French Chamber of 1889 apparently intends to forbid all foreign
physicians to attend upon patients in France! In Valenciennes, as a
matter of fact, a liberal School of Art was established in 1782, by
which time both Watteau and Pater had done their life's work and taken
their places among the masters in a world-wide corporation of St. Luke.

Two charming groups by Pater represent this painter in the Museum of his
native city, toge