BOUCHER, François (Paris, 1703 – Paris, 1770)
François Boucher was born in Paris in 1703. His first teacher was his father, an embroidery designer. He was briefly Lemoine’s pupil, then studied with Cars. In 1722, at the youthful age of nineteen, he was awarded the first prize by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture for Evilmerodach Frees Joachim. Boucher’s technical proficiency as an engraver, developed under Cars, gained him his first commission, from Monsieur de Julienne, for a series of studies of works by Watteau. Boucher would continue to practice engraving and illustrated numerous books in the course of his career. Between 1727 and 1731 he travelled in Italy thanks to the generosity of a collector, possibly the Duke of Antin. On his return to France, he executed the Birth and the Death of Adonis, two works which won enormous success and which were subsequently engraved several times. In 1731, Boucher painted The Farm and Rest by the Fountain in which, for the first time, he represented pastoral life faithfully and with deep feeling, albeit in largely decorative works. Interiors first appear in his work only in the following year in The Landscape Painter. In 1733, he married the young and pretty Marie-Jeanne Buseau who served as his inspiration and model and who would later practice her husband’s craft in making miniature copies of his works. The following year, he was admitted to the Académie as a historical painter with Rinaldo and Armida, in which, according to tradition, he painted himself and his wife. After this work inspired by literature, Boucher tackled another genre: portraiture. Naturally, he started with Madame Boucher. He then painted the portrait of Madame Bergeret and, finally, that of Madame de Pompadour, seated in her boudoir with a book in hand. Madame de Pompadour would be his most illustrious client, a source of inspiration for him as well as his faithful protectress.
Boucher received his first royal commission, for four grisaille paintings for the Queen’s chamber in Versailles, in 1735. Royal commissions would continue for the remainder of the painter’s life. In 1765, the King appointed him first court painter—a choice much criticised by Diderot, who was always Boucher’s implacable enemy. Besides working for the Bâtiments du Roi, Boucher supplied drawings for tapestries, initially for the tapestry-works at the Manufacture de Beauvais and later for that of the Gobelins. Beginning in 1753, he also worked for the Sèvres porcelain factory, for whom the artist’s gallant and pastoral repertoire offered delightful models. Meanwhile, through the Count of Tessin (for whom the artist had illustrated a book), Boucher’s fame reached Sweden and he gained commissions for paintings for the Swedish royal collections. The tireless Boucher also worked in the theatre, painting scenery for the Opéra.
To the end, Boucher painted a range of subjects with equal facility, alternating religious or pastoral themes with landscapes and with scenes of country life or mythology. He died on 30 May 1770.
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