Book of Fountains: No. 4

French prints promoting <em>l’art rocaille</em> (rock and shell art) or <em>goût pittoresque</em> (picturesque taste) quickly migrated throughout Europe and influenced the development of an international rococo style. The drawing on the left is one of Boucher’s designs for a printed suite of ornamental fountains, two of which are on display here. Boucher melds the shapes of animals, rocks, shells, mythological beasts, and humans into fanciful cascades with a sense of unstable equilibrium.