François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

scenes. He was perhaps the most celebrated painter and decorative artist of the 18th century.

Life

A native of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Boucher was the son of a lesser known painter Nicolas Boucher, who gave him his first artistic training. At the age of seventeen, a painting by Boucher was admired by the painter

François Lemoyne François Lemoyne or François Le Moine (; 1688 – 4 June 1737) was a French rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which co ...

. Lemoyne later appointed Boucher as his apprentice, but after only three months, he went to work for the engraver

Jean-François Cars Jean-François Cars (16 October 1661, Lyon, France – 30 August 1738, Paris, France), was a French engraver, printer, publisher and printseller from Lyon. Biography Jean-François Cars was born in Lyons on 16 October 1661, the son of François Ca ...

.Alastair Laing. "Boucher, François." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 June 2016 In 1720, he won the elite

Grand Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for painting, but did not take up the consequential opportunity to study in Italy until five years later, due to financial problems at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. On his return from studying in Italy he was admitted to the refounded

Académie de peinture et de sculpture An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

on 24 November 1731. Levey, Michael. (1993) ''Painting and sculpture in France 1700–1789''. New Haven:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, p. 164. His '' morceau de réception'' (reception piece) was his ''Rinaldo and Armida'' of 1734. Boucher married Marie-Jeanne Buzeau in 1733. The couple had three children together. Boucher became a faculty member in 1734 and his career accelerated from this point as he was promoted Professor then Rector of the Academy, becoming inspector at the Royal Gobelins Manufactory and finally ''

Premier Peintre du Roi The ''Premier peintre du Roi'' (''First painter to the King'') was a court painter position within the administration of the ''Bâtiments du Roi'' of the '' Département de la Maison du Roi'' in France under the ''Ancien Régime''. Its holder oc ...

'' (First Painter of the King) in 1765. Boucher died on 30 May 1770 in his native Paris. His name, along with that of his patron

Madame de Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...

, had become synonymous with the French Rococo style, leading the

Goncourt brothers The Goncourt brothers (, , ) were Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896) and Jules de Goncourt (1830–1870), both French naturalism writers who, as collaborative sibling authors, were inseparable in life. Background Edmond and Jules were born to m ...

to write: "Boucher is one of those men who represent the taste of a century, who express, personify and embody it." Boucher is famous for saying that nature is "trop verte et mal éclairée" (too green and badly lit). Boucher was associated with the gemstone engraver

Jacques Guay Jacques Guay (1711–93) was a French gemstone engraver, a protégé of Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764), mistress of King Louis XV of France (1710–74). He was the most eminent gemstone engraver of his time, the official engraver of the king, an ...

, whom he taught to draw. He also mentored the Moravian-Austrian painter

Martin Ferdinand Quadal Martin Ferdinand Quadal (born cs, Chvátal; 28 October 1736 – 10 January 1811) was a Moravian-Austrian painter and engraver. Quadal is a representative of the Austrian school of painting, working all across Europe in England, Italy, Austria, Ho ...

as well as the neoclassical painter

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

in 1767. Later, Boucher made a series of drawings of works by Guay which Madame de Pompadour then engraved and distributed as a handsomely bound volume to favored courtiers.

Painting

Boucher took inspiration from artists such as

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

and

Antoine Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...

. Boucher's early works celebrate the idyllic and tranquil portrayal of nature and landscape with great elan. However, his art typically forgoes traditional rural innocence to portray scenes with a definitive style of

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

as his mythological scenes are passionate and intimately amorous rather than traditionally epic. Boucher's paintings of a flirtatious shepherd and shepherdess in a woodland setting, featured in ''The Enjoyable Lesson'' (''The Flute Players'') of 1748 and ''An Autumn Pastoral'' (''The Grape Eaters'') of 1749, were based upon characters in a 1745 play by Boucher's close friend Charles-Simon Favart. Boucher's characters in those paintings later inspired a pair of figurines created by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, c. 1757–66.

Marquise de Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and re ...

(mistress of King

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

), whose name became synonymous with Rococo art, was a great admirer of his work. Marquise de Pompadour is often referred to as the "godmother of Rococo" and Boucher's portraits were central to her self-presentation and cultivation of her image. For instance, Boucher's 'Sketch for a Portrait of Madame de Pompadour', displayed in the Starhemburg room at

Waddesdon Manor Waddesdon Manor is a English country house, country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust and managed by the Rothschild Foundation ...

, acts as a surviving example of the oil preparation prior to the, now lost, portrait. In one hand she holds her hat, in the other she picks up a pearl bracelet with a portrait of the king – symbolising the relationship upon which her status depends. Boucher's paintings such as ''The Breakfast'' (1739), a familial scene, show how he was as a master of the

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

scene, where he regularly used his own wife and children as models. These intimate family scenes are contrasting to the licentious style seen in his ''

Odalisque An odalisque (, tr, odalık) was a chambermaid or a female attendant in a Turkish seraglio, particularly the court ladies in the household of the Ottoman sultan. In western usage, the term came to mean the harem concubine, and refers to the ...

'' portraits. The dark-haired version of the ''Odalisque'' portraits prompted claims by the art critic

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promine ...

that Boucher was "prostituting his own wife", and the '' Blonde Odalisque'' was a portrait that illustrated the extramarital relationships of the King. Boucher gained lasting notoriety through such private commissions for wealthy collectors and, after Diderot expressed his disapproval, his reputation came under increasing critical attack during the last years of his career.

Theatrical and tapestry designs

Along with his painting, Boucher also designed theater costumes and sets, and the ardent intrigues of the comic operas of

Charles Simon Favart Charles Simon Favart (13 November 1710 – 12 May 1792) was a French playwright and theatre director. The Salle Favart in Paris is named after him. Biography Born in Paris, the son of a pastry-cook, he was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, a ...

closely paralleled his own style of painting.

Tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

design was also a concern. For the

Beauvais tapestry The Beauvais Manufactory () is a historic tapestry factory in Beauvais, France. It was the second in importance, after the Gobelins Manufactory, of French tapestry workshops that were established under the general direction of Jean-Baptiste Colb ...

workshops he first designed a series of ''Fêtes italiennes'' ("Italian festivals") in 1736, which proved to be very successful and often rewoven over the years, and then, commissioned in 1737, a suite of the story of

Cupid and Psyche Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyc ...

. During two decades' involvement with the Beauvais tapestry workshops Boucher produced designs for six series of hangings in all, like the tapestry showing Psyche and the Basketmaker from 1741–1742. Boucher was also called upon for designs for court festivities organized by that section of the King's household called the

Menus-Plaisirs du Roi The Menus-Plaisirs du Roi () was, in the organisation of the French royal household under the Ancien Régime, the department of the Maison du Roi responsible for the "lesser pleasures of the King", which meant in practice that it was in charge of a ...

and for the opera and for royal châteaux

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

and Choisy. His designs for all of the aforementioned augmented his earlier reputation, resulting in many engravings from his work and even reproduction of his designs on

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

and

biscuit-ware Biscuit porcelain, bisque porcelain or bisque is unglazed, white porcelain treated as a final product, with a matte appearance and texture to the touch. It has been widely used in European pottery, mainly for sculptural and decorative objects th ...

at the

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

and

Sèvres Sèvres (, ) is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a population of 23,251 as of 2018, is known for i ...

factories. The death of Oudry in 1755 put an end to its contribution to Beauvais but his collaboration with the Gobelins lasted until 1765, when he stepped down from his position as an inspector.

Drawings and prints

Boucher was a very prolific and varied draftsman. His drawings served not only as preparatory studies for his paintings and as designs for printmakers but also as finished works of art for which there was a great demand by collectors. Boucher followed standard studio practices of the time, by first working out the overall composition of his major canvases, and then making chalk studies for individual figures, or groups of figures. He also relied on oil and gouache sketches in the preparation of major commissions. Gradually he made more and more sketches as independent works for the market. The ''Adoration of the Shepherds'' (Metropolitan Museum of Art), a free and painterly sketch in gouache, was long considered a preparatory sketch for Madame de Pompadour's private altarpiece ''La lumière du monde'' (ca. 1750, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon). Recent scholarship suggests, however, that it was made at least 10 years later as an autonomous work. In the last decade of his career the artist began to favor brown chalk, a fabricated medium. Boucher was also a gifted engraver and etcher. Boucher etched some 180 original copperplates. He made many etchings after Watteau. He thus helped propagate a taste for reproductions of drawings. When his own drawings began to sell, 266 of them were etched in stipple substitutes by

Gilles Demarteau Gilles Demarteau or Gilles Demarteau the Elder (19 January 1722, in Liège – 31 July 1776, in Paris) was an etcher, engraver and publisher who was active in Paris for his entire career.Madeleine Barbin. "Demarteau, Gilles." Grove Art Online. O ...

. These were printed in red ink so they resembled red chalk drawings which could be framed as little pictures. They could then be hung in the small blank spaces of the elaborately decorated paneling of luxury dwellings. Boucher's most original inventions were decorative, and he contributed to the fashionable style of

chinoiserie (, ; loanword from French '' chinoiserie'', from '' chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, lite ...

, after having etched 12 'Figures Chinoises' (Chinese figures) by Watteau.

Gallery

File:François Boucher 003.jpg, ''

Self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

in the Studio'', 1720,

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

File:François Boucher - 'Putti with Birds'.jpg, ''Putti with Birds'', c. 1730–1733,

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single col ...

File:Boucher renaud et armide louvre.jpg, ''Rinaldo and Armida'', 1734 (Reception piece) File:François Boucher - The Triumph of Venus - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

The Triumph of Venus ''The Triumph of Venus'' is a 1740 oil-on-canvas painting by François Boucher. It inspired ''The Birth of Venus'' by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The painting was one of the large number of drawings and paintings acquired by Carl Gustaf Tessin during ...

'', 1740,

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

File:Boucher Leda LACMA.jpeg, ''Leda and the Swan'', 1741 File:Boucher Diane sortant du bain Louvre 2712.jpg, '' Diana Leaving the Bath'', 1742 File:François Boucher, Sketch for a Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (1721 - 1764), c. 1750 at Waddesdon Manor.jpg, In this sketch, Boucher allows the viewer to glimpse Madame de Pompadour before she goes out, c 1750,

File:Venus Consoling Love, François Boucher, 1751.jpg, '' Venus Consoling Love'', 1751 File:The Toilet of Venus, by François Boucher.jpg, ''The Toilette of Venus'' (1751) typifies the pleasing elegance of Boucher's mature style. File:François Boucher 007.jpg, ''The Bridge'', 1751,

File:Boucher Marquise de Pompadour 1756.jpg, ''

'', 1756,

Neue Pinakothek The Neue Pinakothek (, ''New Pinacotheca'') is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is one of the most important museums of art of the nineteenth century in the world. Together with th ...

File:Saint Pierre tentant de marcher sur les eaux by François Boucher.jpg, ''Saint Peter Attempting to Walk on Water'', 1766, Cathédrale Saint-Louis,

File:François Boucher - Dreaming Shepherdess - WGA02914.jpg, ''Dreaming Shepherdess'' File:François Boucher Autumn Pastoral.jpg, ''Autumn Pastoral'' File:Boucher Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas.jpg, '' Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas'', 1757 File:François Boucher, Aurora Heralding the Arrival of the Morning Sun, c. 1765, NGA 137045.jpg, alt=Aurora and some heavenly beings greeting the rising sun, Aurora Heralding the Arrival of the Morning Sun, c. 1765,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Works by François Boucher

Francois Boucher - Standing Nude Girl - Google Art Project

This is an incomplete list of works by François Boucher. *''Death of Meleager'' (c. 1727),

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

*''Project for a Cartouche'' (c. 1727), Los Angeles County Museum of Art *''Imaginary Landscape with the Palatine Hill from Campo Vaccino'' (1734),

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

*''Monument to Mignard'' (c. 1735), Los Angeles County Museum of Art *''Venus and Mercury Instructing Cupid'' (1738), Los Angeles County Museum of Art *''Cupid Wounding Psyche'' (1741), Los Angeles County Museum of Art *''Les Confidences Pastorales'' (c. 1745), Los Angeles County Museum of Art *''Arion on the Dolphin'' (1748),

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

*''Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour'' (1750),

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

Sketch for a Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (c.1750)

*''The Bird Has Flown'' (1765), Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, IN *''The Interrupted Sleep'' (1750), Metropolitan Museum of Art *''The Love Letter'' (1750), National Gallery of Art François Boucher - The Dovecote

*''The Toilette of Venus'' (1751), Metropolitan Museum of Art *''Shepherd Boy Playing Bagpipes'' (c. 1754),

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

*''Landscape with a Watermill'' (1755),

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, London *''Venus in the Workshop of Vulcan'' (1757),

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

*''

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

'' (1757),

Grand Trianon The Grand Trianon () is a French Baroque style château situated in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built at the request of King Louis XIV of France as a retreat for himself and his ''maîtresse-en ...

*''Lovers in a Park'' (1758), Timken Museum, *''Pan and Syrinx'' (1759), National Gallery, *''Study of a standing nude young woman seen from behind, raising drapery'' (1762),

Miguel Urrutia Art Museum The Miguel Urrutia Art Museum (Spanish: Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia (MAMU)) is an art museum in Bogotá, Colombia. The MAMU is part of the Banrepcultural Network along with the Botero Museum, the Gold Museum, the Luis Ángel Arango Library ...

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

*''Angelica and Medoro'' (1763), Metropolitan Museum of Art *''Jupiter, in the Guise of Diana, and Callisto'' (1763), Metropolitan Museum of Art *'' The Judgment of Paris'' (circa 1763),

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mulhouse The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mulhouse is a municipal art museum in Mulhouse, France. It originated with the '' Société industrielle de Mulhouse (SIM)'', a learned society established in 1826 by local industrialists such as Dollfus, Koechlin, and ...

*''Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist and Angels'' (1765), Metropolitan Museum of Art * ''Halt at the Spring'' (1765), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston * ''Return from Market'' (1767), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston *''Shepherd's Idyll'' (1768), Metropolitan Museum of Art *''Washerwomen'' (1768), Metropolitan Museum of Art *''Aurora Heralding the Arrival of the Morning Sun'' (1765),

References

External links

Chronological list of Paintings by François Boucher
at Wikidata *
François Boucher.org
(video)

(video)
Mobilier national collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boucher, Francois 1703 births 1770 deaths 18th-century French painters Ballet designers French male painters Orientalist painters Painters from Paris Premiers peintres du Roi Prix de Rome for painting Rococo painters Tapestry artists 18th-century French male artists