François Boucher: 10 works

'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.'

'As a middle tone, he adopted the blue paper favored by Venetian artists. A favorite painter at the French court, Boucher designed tapestries for the royal factories, Beauvais and Gobelins.'

'Along with Fragonard and Watteau, Boucher ranks among the most important French artists of the eighteenth century.'

'Here, François Boucher refers to landscapes by the French classical painter Claude Lorrain.'

'Responding to the contemporary rage for pastorals depicting amorous countryside games, François Boucher here exhibited young, fashionable couples in the act of catching birds.'

'The artifice of the composition and elegance of Boucher's draughtsmanship characterize the features of Rococo design.'

'Boucher's voluptuous paintings, with their pastel tones, silvery light and obvious delight in seductive subject matter are the perfect example of 18th-century Rococo.'

'Although most of these drawings have now been lost, scholars examining the records of Boucher's contemporary collectors have found various titles of similar works, such as Farmer's House in the Form of a Barn and An Interior of a Barn with Three Farmers and a Woman. This drawing therefore provides the only known record of Boucher's visit to the Netherlands.'

'François Boucher depicted a mythological world of delicate sensuality and indolence.'

'This roundel imitates a painting set in an oval frame, complete with François Boucher's signature under Cephalus.'