François Boucher, French, 1703-1770
Title: A Young Girl in a Park
Date: c.1765-70
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
58 x 46 cm
Credit Line: Purchased, 1962 (Shaw Fund)
Object Number: NGI.1723
Exhibition HistoryVon Poussin bis Monet. Die Farben Frankreichs, The Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, 22 March - 6 September 2015; Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, 10 October 2015 - 17 January 2016
Label TextThis picture is believed to be a study for a figure in Boucher’s painting La Chasse. Late in his career, Boucher repeatedly painted the figure of this barefoot woman in various pastoral settings. In this example, the colours are pale and the brushwork fluid. Rococo paintings, such as this, were intended to be informal, decorative, and romantic. They contrasted greatly with the grand historical scenes favoured by Academic artists of the time. In 1768, the English artist, Joshua Reynolds visited Boucher in Paris. He noted, rather pointedly, that the elderly Frenchman was working from memory and imagination rather than from life models.