Details of great paintings by Francois Boucher

Details of great of paintings by Francois Boucher (1703–1770), the famous French Rococo painter. Choose an image and click. It will expand and automatically scroll view, revealing details you did not notice before. Enjoy.

Madame de Pompadour By FranCois Boucher

Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764), real name Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was a member of the French court of King Louix XV. Also a patron of the arts.

She was born on 29 December 1721 in Paris to Francois Poisson and wife Madeleine de La Motte. From an early stage she received the finest education of that day in a convent in Poissy. Probably, she was very smart and beautiful. It is said that she was admired for her wit and charm. At the age of nineteen (1740), Jeanne Antoinette married Charles Guillaume Le Normant d’Etoille. It was a love match but in 1745 she left him to become the chief official mistress of King Louix XV.

After this she served as advisor to the king in charge of the king’s schedule, acting almost like a prime minister. She had some part in the negotiations that led to the First Treaty of Versailles, a diplomatic agreement between France and Austria. Because of this, the two countrie were to engaged in the Seven Years’ war against the Anglo-Prussian Alliance. France lost to the Prussians in the Battle of Rossbach in 1757. Pompadour was balmed. All in all, she was probably one of the most influential women in Europe at that time.

She was also was an influential patron of the arts and influenced and stimulated innovation in the Rococo style. Thus she played a major role in making Paris the capital of taste and culture in Europe. In that context she was Francois Bouchers’s greatest patron. Thus the numerous paintings below.

Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764)

Sketch for a Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), The portrait above is a sketch. The final version is lost.

Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (1750)

details of Mythical paintings by FranCois Boucher

Idyllic and voluptuous in the Rococo style.

The Toilet of Venus (1751). Boucher created this painting for Madame de Pompadour, mistress of the French King Louis XV. She was Boucher’s patron. I believe Venus looks like Madame de Pompadour.

Venus Consoling Love (1751). Click to see the details. Love goddess Venus is taking Cupid’s arrows from him and Cupid is making a face. Naughty child versus lovely woman.

Venus Asking Vulcan for Arms for Aeneas (1732). Aeneas is the son of Venus.

Diana leaving her Bath (1742). Shows Roman goddess Diana, accompanied by a nymph. Maybe Diana is Madame de Pompadour. Madame de Pompadour dressed as the goddess Diana in a masked ball in 1745. It was at that ball that King Louis XV declared his fondness for her and later installed her as mistress at Versailles in an apartment directly above his.

Rinaldo and Armida (1734). The story of Rinaldo and Armida comes from a poem by Torquato Tasso (1582). It was famous at that time. In the story Christian knight Rinaldo and Saracen sorceress Armida fall in love, but Rinaldo defeats the Saracens in battle.

details of Landscapes

Francois Boucher was famous as a landscape painter. He was not just a creator of mythical paintings featuring beautiful women in suggestive poses. The paintings below are some of his works. However his landscape paintings were as idealistic as his mythical paintings.

The Mill at Charenton (1758). The village of Charenton was at the meeting place of the Seine and Marne rivers. Near Paris, it was a favorite meeting place for aristocratic men and women in the 18th century. The building would have been easily recognizable to the aristocrats. A beautiful painting, but the peasants in the picture are too smartly dressed to be true. A fantasy world created by Francois Boucher to cater to the aristocrats of the day. Boucher was an able marketer.

Landscape near Beauvais (1740s). A Rococo masterpiece showing the beauty of the French landscape Rococo style. The soft and warm colors create a tranquil and serene atmosphere. This is emphasized by the people in the painting going about their business. The washerwoman on the boat putting dirty linens away, the laundress on the apartment window hanging out the linen to dry. All tranquil, all serene, all too good to be true. What a beautiful fantasy world. Click the painting for a detailed scrolled view.

The Four Seasons (1755) By FranCois Boucher

These paintings once belonged to King Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour. It is suspected that the woman in “Winter” is Madame de Pompadour.

FranCois Boucher

Click image for detailed scrolled view

Portrait of Francois Boucher by Gustaf Lundberg (1741)

His style

Francois Boucher was a French painter and draughtsman who worked in the Rococo style. He created a fantastic idyllic world. His paintings were famous for being idyllic and voluptuous, containing decorative but suggestive nuances and beautiful pastoral scenes. His greatest patron was Madame de Pompadour called the ‘the godmother and queen of Rococo’.

His story

Francois Boucher was born in 1703 to Nicolas Boucher, a painter himself. Thus his father was the first to train him in the arts. Later the painter Francois Lemoyne appointed Boucher as his apprentice. In 1720, he won the prestigeous Grand prix de Rome for painting and on 24 November 1731, he was admitted to the Academie de peinture et de sculpture. His reception piece for the Academie was “Rinaldo and Armida (1734)” shown above.

Boucher married Marie-Jeanne Buzeau in 1733 and had three children. His rise was rapid. In 1734 he was appointed faculty member then promoted to Professor then Rector of the academy, inspector at the Royal Gobelins Manufactory and finally First Painter of the King in 1765.

Boucher died on 30 May 1770 in his native Paris. By then, his name, together with that of his patron Madame de Pompadour had become synonymous with the French Rococo style.

The Rococo style

The Rococo style began in France in the 1730s. It spread swiftly to Italy, Germany, Austria and Russia. The style was not limitted to painting but included architectural and decorative art. It was characterized by an ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration and was a combination of asymmetry, scrolling curves, white and pastel colours. Look at the paintings above by Francois Boucher. That is Rococo style painting.

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