François Boucher
1703–1770 · Rococo · 16 works
François Boucher’s pictures belonged to a wider world of eighteenth-century decoration, including tapestry, theater, book illustration, and porcelain. He painted for the French court and received important support from Madame de Pompadour. His shepherds and mythological figures inhabit an imagined countryside shaped for pleasure, with little sign of the demands of farm labor. A scene that looks spontaneous may be carefully theatrical: Are They Thinking about the Grape? draws on a pantomime. His drawings make the practical work behind this elegance visible through studies of bodies, faces, and decorative details.
16 works · 1730–1760
In Are They Thinking about the Grape?, follow the hands and the fruit. How do the gestures turn a quiet encounter into a story?
1730–1732 · 3 works
Walk these 3In the museum: Rococo room · 1 work
1737–1740 · 5 works
Walk these 5In the museum: Rococo room · 3 works
1747–1760 · 8 works
Walk these 8In the museum: Rococo room · 3 works
Canaletto
Capriccio: A Street Crossed by Arches (recto) Sketches of Doorway, Staircase and Second Floor of Building (verso), c. 1720
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, c. 1719
Jean Antoine Watteau
Standing Man Leaning on His Elbow, before 1710
