François Boucher in 10 Paintings

1. Rinaldo and Armida, 1734

François Boucher entered the Royal Academy of Painting in 1734 after years of training and a trip to Rome to learn from the great masters. He presented this painting of Rinaldo and Armida as a reception piece in which he demonstrated his talent as a history painter, the highest-ranking genre at the time. He took inspiration from a 16th-century epic poem called Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso. In the poem, Rinaldo, a crusader, falls in love with Armida, a sorceress and the daughter of a Muslim ruler. She faces a dilemma: follow her heart or continue her plan of seduction to help her father defeat the Christians. The theme of love between the soldier and the daughter of his enemy encapsulates Rococo’s fondness for love stories.

2. Portrait of Madame de Pompadour, 1756

Madame de Pompadour became one of the faces of the Rococo style, in part thanks to Boucher’s portraits. Both were instrumental in the rise of this style in the French court and beyond. Pompadour was King Louis XV’s official mistress and an influential figure in French political and cultural life. In this portrait commissioned by the king, Boucher depicted her as a relaxed and dignified woman leaning on a canapé, with a book in her hand, and dressed fashionably. The canvas is filled with rich iconography and visual messages, from the roses on the floor to the quill in the boudoir. Boucher employed a mirror to show the other side of the space. The reflection shows lavish bookshelves in Rococo style that evidence her intellectual interests.

3. The Light of the World, 1750

Speaking of Madame de Pompadour, she commissioned The Light of the World in 1750. It is a special painting for both the patron and the artist as it was Pompadour’s first commission to him, meant to hang in a private chapel at Château de Bellevue in Meudon, France. This is one of the few religious paintings in Boucher’s career. The name refers to the beginning of John the Evangelist’s gospel in which he equates Jesus to light. Shortly after he presented this painting at the Paris Salon of 1750, the king appointed him as the “first painter” and he got lodgings at the Louvre.

4. Pastoral with a Couple near a Fountain, 1749

Pastoral scenes like Pastoral with a Couple near a Fountain are among Boucher’s most famous works. During the 18th century, French aristocracy daydreamed of the countryside. Of course, it was not the real one where country people worked from dawn till dusk under the sun, but an idealized and peaceful environment of leisure and love. Looking closely, the characters’ feet do not spot dirt even though they are barefoot. Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) popularized the genre a generation earlier with his fêtes galantes. Boucher’s paintings continued the tradition, except he turned the aristocratic couples into shepherds and shepherdesses courting in the middle of nature. The inspiration for this painting was a contemporary pantomime by Charles-Simon Favart titled The Harvest in the Vale of Tempé.

5. Diana Bathing, 1742

Another theme in which Boucher excelled was mythology. Diana Bathing depicts the goddess of the hunt sitting naked on top of blue and white draperies. Boucher included her iconographic elements: the crescent moon on her headdress, a bow and arrows, dogs, and dead birds—product of a successful hunt. Mythological paintings like this one were convenient for artists and art lovers due to the opportunities to paint nudes and voyeuristic scenes such as this one. Furthermore, the ritual of the toilette became important in the 18th century, increasing the popularity of scenes where female figures got ready for the day. The same year he painted Diana Bathing, Boucher translated the scene to the domestic sphere in La Toilette, where the viewer got a peek into a mortal woman’s morning routine with her maid.

6. The Bridge, 1751

In the 18th century, landscape painting began to develop into proper and independent genre. François Boucher painted several scenes in which the natural environment dominated the canvas. However, in The Bridge as in his other examples, Boucher could not let go of the human factor yet. This painting recalls the landscapes by Claude Lorrain (1600–1682), only Boucher painted shepherds instead of classical figures.

7. Portrait of Madame Badouin, the artist’s daughter, 1758–1760

Presumably, the woman in this portrait is Marie-Emilie Baudouin, Boucher’s daughter. Other than the sitter’s identity, the portrait contains an important iconographic element: the bird outside its cage. Birds symbolized love and appear frequently in pastoral scenes. In this case, the girl holds the little bird on her finger which means her lover has been caught and the bird will not fly away. Other than this, the portrait follows Boucher’s style, painting the woman in fashionable clothes, pale skin, and on a dark background.

8. The Brunette Odalisque, 1745

The Brunette Odalisque was quite a scandalous painting. The term “odalisque” referred to a Turkish concubine made popular in the West as part of the exoticized ideals about Middle Eastern cultures. Boucher painted this woman strategically so that her uncovered backside would be the center of the composition. It doesn’t seem to bother her, on the contrary, she might be inviting her lover to join her. The identity of the woman remains unclear. Denis Diderot, an avid critic of Boucher’s art, accused the painter of “prostituting” his wife Marie-Jeanne Boucher, meaning she was the model for this painting. Scholars are not certain of this, but Boucher indeed asked his wife to pose for him in other paintings. But, would he show her in this state publicly?

9. Allegory of Painting, 1765

Boucher painted the Allegory of Painting during his last years. A female figure sitting on a cloud while putti (winged infants) hold a canvas and observe her sketching. One of them, the one holding the torch, is the model for the painting. Painting has only started her piece. We can see the figure’s contours on white chalk on the canvas, although her palette and brushes lie behind her.

10. Self-Portrait in His Studio, 1725–1730

Last but not least, this painting has long been referred to as a self-portrait. According to the description at the Louvre where it hangs, the affirmation is incorrect. Nevertheless, the painting on the easel belonged to Boucher, confirmed by the same museum through an engraving owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art called Neapolitan Shepherd. So, is it or is it not a self-portrait? The studio seems in poor condition. The window appears to have a crack, there is a bust and other objects on the floor, and his expression denotes tiredness. Boucher painted this scene early in his career, before entering the Royal Academy. If this was a self-portrait, his reality contrasted with the subjects of his future paintings, where lavish interiors and luxurious gowns abounded. He did not know it yet, but he would become one of the most successful artists of his generation.

Unfortunately, the turn of fortunes in France brought by the French Revolution affected Boucher’s reputation. Even in his time, Denis Diderot constantly criticized his work. François Boucher’s paintings became testaments to the frivolity and extravagance of the ancien régime that the French detested. Over time, the Rococo style became associated with negative views of the “feminine” and ostentatiousness that degraded Boucher’s and other Rococo artists’ masterpieces. This criticism continues today. Regardless, François Boucher enjoyed tremendous fame in his life and we are lucky to have his work in museums.