1703 -1770 · French Rococo, pastoral, mythology and decorative arts

Pearly carnations, luminous blues and roses, gallant pastoral and sensual mythologies make François Boucher the major interpreter of French rococo.

François Boucher was born in Paris in 1703 into a family linked to the image professions. After a brief stint in François Lemoyne's studio, he worked for the engraver Jean-François Cars and participated in the dissemination of Antoine Watteau's drawings. This practice of prints refines his sense of line, movement and variation. Winner of the Prix de Rome in 1723, he stayed in Italy from 1728 to 1731. On his return, he developed a personal language nourished by Rubens, Venetian painting, Dutch landscape and Watteau's elegance. Received at the Royal Academy in 1734, he stayed in Italy from 1728 to 1731. On his return, he developed a personal language nourished by Rubens, Venetian painting, Dutch landscape and Watteau's elegance. Received at the Royal Academy in 1734, he stayed in Italy from 1728 to 1731. On his return, he developed a personal language nourished by Rubens, Venetian painting, Dutch landscape and Watteau's elegance. Received at the Royal Academy in 1734, Boucher experienced a rapid rise. He painted mythological subjects, pastoral subjects, genre scenes, portraits, landscapes and some religious compositions. His clear palette, pearly flesh and arabesques become inseparable from rococo. Madame de Pompadour entrusted him with paintings, decorations and drawings; his patronage contributed to an exceptional diffusion of his style. Boucher worked for Versailles, the royal residences, the factories of Beauvais, Gobelins and Sèvres. He provided models for tapestries, porcelain, theater, books and ornaments, circulating his inventions throughout Europe. Appointed first painter to the king and director of the Academy in 1765, he embodied models for tapestries, porcelain, theater, books and ornaments, circulating his inventions throughout Europe. Appointed first painter to the king and director of the Academy in 1765, he then embodied the summit of the institution. Appointed first painter to the king and director of the Academy in 1765, he then embodied the summit of the institution. His pastorals do not describe peasant life: they offer an artificial world of desire, music and kind nature. In The Toilet of Venus or The Bath of Venus, fabrics, flowers, water and flesh compose a continuous and sensual surface. Criticized at the end of his life for his distance from truth and morality, Boucher nevertheless remains a designer and decorator of prodigious invention. He died in Paris in 1770, leaving one of the most diverse and widely distributed works of the 18th century. The "François Boucher" selection notably compares The Three Graces and The Toilet of Venus. His reading favors movement.

At Boucher, painting becomes total decor: the flesh, the cloud, the fabric and the flower belong to the same world of luminous grace.