(Paris 1703 – 1770)
François Boucher, who was a French painter and engraver, was one of the greater exponents of the French rococo. He became famous because of his idyllic paintings on mythological subjects and because of his Madame de Pompadour’s portraits.
His father was Nicolas Boucher. François Boucher is probably the most famous decorator of the eighteenth century with his rococo style. He was awarded in Rome in 1723 and later, when he went to Italy, he was influenced by Tiepolo. After going back to France in 1731, he worked very actively. In 1734 he was admitted in the Académie de peinture et de sculpture (Rinaldo and Armida belongs to that period) and became its director in 1765.
His artistic career was full of successes and benefits. Boucher was the drawing teacher of Madame de Pompadour, whose brother, M. de Marigny, acted as patron to him; moreover, he was the head of the Royal Gobelins Manufactory and the first painter of the king. Till his death, he was the pontiff of art of his time.
Thanks to his incredible productiveness, Boucher was able to multiply canvases, decorations, grisailles and tapestries. He painted both mythological scenes of delicate charm, in which ones we can appreciate the influx of Veronés, Rubens and Watteau; and portraits, landscapes, religious subjects and nudes.
He decorated the Royal Beauvais Manufactory, the Opéra de Paris and the rooms of the first floor of the Soubise Palace, becoming one of his masterpieces. Among his many artworks, the most important are: The Toilette of Venus (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), Diana Resting after her Bath, Painter in his Studio (both of them in the Louvre Museum) and a series of “chinoiseries” (Besançon Museum). The best artworks produced by Boucher belong to the Wallace collection in London, which is very rich above all in decorative works. He painted lots of drawings, which are partly in the Louvre Museum.
