Boucher and Colour
A deep dive into the pigments and techniques that shaped the iconic style of François Boucher.
The Setting of the Sun (1752) by François BoucherThe Wallace Collection
On the morning of May 30, 1770, François Boucher died in his apartment in the Palais du Louvre. The most influential painter of his generation, he left behind a brilliant legacy that resonates through French painting — one thinks of Delacroix, Renoir, Matisse — and beyond.
The Rising of the Sun (1753) by François BoucherThe Wallace Collection
Boucher took a unique approach to color, creating paintings with a blend of jewel-like tones, bold contrasts, and creamy pastels in ways never seen before.
‘Nature is too green, and badly lit,’ wrote Boucher, and it is undeniable that his world is dominated, not by green, but by a related shade: blue.
1. Blue
Boucher’s technique was made possible by the discovery, in 1704, of the pigment known as Prussian blue. The surprise result of a laboratory experiment gone awry, Prussian blue redefined the art world. It was cheap, easy to use in mixtures, and relatively stable.
Pastoral with a Bagpipe Player (18th Century) by Francois BoucherThe Wallace Collection
Studies show that this pigment forms the basis for Boucher’s foliage. It colours his never-ending skies. Without Prussian blue, large-scale canvases such as Pastoral with a Bagpipe Player or Pastoral with a Couple Near a Fountain would have been prohibitively expensive.
2. Orange
The vibrant hue of the fruit that gives orange its name is rare in Boucher’s palette. It punctuates some early works but surprisingly it is generally absent.
In Boucher's time, this color was typically made from realgar (arsenic sulfide), a toxic mineral that often faded to yellow.
Boucher cleverly used orange as a color to be imagined by the viewer, placing red and yellow next to each other, the primary colors that create orange. Uniquely, he paired these with a subdued, burnt orange on male figures, which suited their tawnier complexions.
In Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan, Boucher shifts this time from red and yellow to pink and yellow. The beautiful arch of shot silk, made of pink and yellow paint, almost shifts to orange but never fully does, creating a vibrant coral.
3. White
Fundamental to the eighteenth-century palette was lead white. Combined with oil, lead white produced one of the most pleasurable paints to work with. Mixed with oil paint made from other pigments, it improved handling and accelerated drying times.
In order for Boucher to produce his pastels— canary yellow, pale pink, minty green, baby blue — he used lead white more than most, and he clearly revelled in it. Its luscious texture lent itself perfectly to his muscular, gestural brushwork.
Boucher’s fondness for this color came at a cost. The toxic substance could cause lead poisoning, which may have contributed to his diminished ability to see color in his later years. He reportedly told a fellow artist that he "saw only earth colors where others saw vermilion".
The Virgin and Child with Saints (1665) by Bartolomé Esteban MurilloThe Wallace Collection
4. Pink
Boucher did not invent pink, but he is perhaps the artist most associated with this colour. Pink appeared in paintings before Boucher’s time often in the Virgin’s costume as she held the baby Jesus.
These works suggest that pink was associated with maternal devotion. In Boucher’s output, the powerful Venus, goddess of love, lies beneath yards of coral pink silk, held aloft by two dimpled putti.
These dual associations of maternal care and carnal love are evident in Boucher's Portrait of Madame de Pompadour. The painting reflects Pompadour’s own hope for fulfillment in her role as Louis XV's mistress and friend.
By 1759, the year that Boucher painted Pompadour in a shell-pink dress in a garden, she had already commissioned two images that used pink as the central colour. In the Rising and Setting of the Sun, the figure of Apollo (the symbol of the French kings) is swathed in pink fabric.
Mercury confiding the infant bacchus to the nymphs (1732) by François BoucherThe Wallace Collection
Here, pink is not gendered female, but instead associated with power. Similarly in Mercury confiding the Infant Bacchus to the Nymphs and Jupiter and Callisto, the male gods appear in pink.
Pink is thereby transferred from more traditional allegorical realms to add symbolic weight to the representation of Pompadour. It not only shows a beautiful woman in a garden setting but marks out Pompadour as both powerful woman at court and singular patron of Boucher.
The Rising of the Sun (1753) by François BoucherThe Wallace Collection
Boucher claimed to have created 1,000 paintings and 10,000 drawings, highlighting his prolific output and meticulous process.
The Judgment of Paris (1754) by François BoucherThe Wallace Collection
He built up large compositions through initial figure drawings, compositional studies, and lively oil sketches.
The Setting of the Sun (1752) by François BoucherThe Wallace Collection
Subtle brown outlines, likely earth pigments, trace the contours of figures. Likely made with earth pigment, these marks shine through the brightest paint. They provide glimpses into the artist’s mind, as if he was still here, thinking his way through the paint.
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