Are They Thinking about the Grape? (Pensent-ils au raisin?)

Although he painted a broad range of subjects and executed designs for porcelain and tapestries, François Boucher’s canvases of pastoral themes represent his most influential contribution to 18th-century French art. These idealized visions of rustic life, indebted to Jean-Antoine Watteau’s images of “fête galantes,” or open-air courtship parties, typically feature shepherds and shepherdesses engaged in amorous pursuits. This work was inspired by a contemporary theater piece, which was first performed as a pantomime at a Parisian fair in 1745. The painting’s playfully coy title derives from that of an engraving of a similar image.