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33-435: A native of Paris, Boucher was the son of a lesser known painter Nicolas Boucher, who gave him his first artistic training. At the age of seventeen, a painting by Boucher was admired by the painter François Lemoyne . Lemoyne later appointed Boucher as his apprentice, but after only three months, he went to work for the engraver Jean-François Cars . In 1720, he won the elite Grand Prix de Rome for painting, but did not take up

66-601: A "sensuous beauty" similar to works by Correggio . Charles Simon Favart Charles Simon Favart (13 November 1710 – 12 May 1792) was a French playwright and theatre director. The Salle Favart in Paris is named after him. Born in Paris , the son of a pastry-cook, he was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand , and after his father's death he carried on the business for a time. His first success in literature

99-484: A Portrait of Madame de Pompadour', displayed in the Starhemburg room at Waddesdon Manor , acts as a surviving example of the oil preparation prior to the, now lost, portrait. In one hand she holds her hat, in the other she picks up a pearl bracelet with a portrait of the king – symbolising the relationship upon which her status depends. Boucher's paintings such as The Breakfast (1739), a familial scene, show how he

132-551: A definitive style of eroticism as his mythological scenes are passionate and intimately amorous rather than traditionally epic. Boucher's paintings of a flirtatious shepherd and shepherdess in a woodland setting, featured in The Enjoyable Lesson ( The Flute Players ) of 1748 and An Autumn Pastoral ( The Grape Eaters ) of 1749, were based upon characters in a 1745 play by Boucher's close friend Charles-Simon Favart. Boucher's characters in those paintings later inspired

165-460: A fabricated medium. Boucher was also a gifted engraver and etcher. Boucher etched some 180 original copperplates. He made many etchings after Watteau. He thus helped propagate a taste for reproductions of drawings. When his own drawings began to sell, 266 of them were etched in stipple substitutes by Gilles Demarteau . These were printed in red ink so they resembled red chalk drawings which could be framed as little pictures. They could then be hung in

198-622: A faculty member in 1734 and his career accelerated from this point as he was promoted Professor then Rector of the academy, becoming inspector at the Royal Gobelins Manufactory and finally Premier Peintre du Roi (First Painter of the King) in 1765. Boucher died on 30 May 1770 in his native Paris. His name, along with that of his patron Madame de Pompadour , had become synonymous with the French Rococo style, leading

231-505: A pair of figurines created by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, c.  1757 –66. Marquise de Pompadour (mistress of King Louis XV ), whose name became synonymous with Rococo art, was a great admirer of his work. Marquise de Pompadour is often referred to as the "godmother of Rococo" and Boucher's portraits were central to her self-presentation and cultivation of her image. For instance, Boucher's 'Sketch for

264-531: A successful début the year before. By their united talents and labours, the Opéra-Comique rose to such a height of success that it aroused the jealousy of the rival Comédie-Française and was suppressed. Favart, left thus without resources, accepted the proposal of comte Maurice de Saxe , and became director of a troupe of comedians which was to accompany Maurice's army into Flanders . It was part of his duty to compose from time to time impromptu verses on

297-512: Is uncertain. He had grown nearly blind in his last days, and died in Paris. The Favart's second son, Charles Nicolas Favart was also an actor and dramatist. His plays have been republished in various editions and selections (1763-1772, 12 vols.; 1810, 3 vols.; 1813; 1853). His correspondence (1759-1763) with Count Durazzo , director of theatres at Vienna, was published in 1808 as Mémoires et correspondance littéraire, dramatique et anecdotique de CS Favart . It furnishes valuable information on

330-607: The Goncourt brothers to write: "Boucher is one of those men who represent the taste of a century, who express, personify and embody it." Boucher is famous for saying that nature is "trop verte et mal éclairée" (too green and badly lit). Boucher was associated with the gemstone engraver Jacques Guay , whom he taught to draw. He also mentored the Moravian-Austrian painter Martin Ferdinand Quadal as well as

363-541: The Vincennes and Sèvres factories. The death of Oudry in 1755 put an end to its contribution to Beauvais but his collaboration with the Gobelins lasted until 1765, when he stepped down from his position as an inspector. Boucher was a very prolific and varied draftsman. His drawings served not only as preparatory studies for his paintings and as designs for printmakers but also as finished works of art for which there

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396-534: The French could excel at à ciel ouvert as much as the Italians. When the work was complete, he received "unanimous praise," including accolades from Voltaire and Cardinal Fleury . His career was at its peak in 1736, when he was appointed Premier peintre du Roi . The following year, 1737, Lemoyne committed suicide in Paris. The reasons for this are not known, though excess of work, court intrigue at Versailles,

429-593: The Prix de Rome and travelled to Italy to continue his studies. After his return to Paris, Lemoyne was accepted as a full member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in 1718 and later elected as a professor in 1733. In 1723, Lemoyne returned to Italy for a second trip. In 1727, the duc d'Antin (Louis-Antoine de Pardaillan de Grondin), serving as the director of the Bâtiments du Roi , held an art competition in

462-464: The Shepherds (Metropolitan Museum of Art), a free and painterly sketch in gouache, was long considered a preparatory sketch for Madame de Pompadour's private altarpiece La lumière du monde (ca. 1750, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon). Recent scholarship suggests, however, that it was made at least 10 years later as an autonomous work. In the last decade of his career the artist began to favor brown chalk,

495-520: The consequential opportunity to study in Italy until five years later, due to financial problems at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture . On his return from studying in Italy he was admitted to the refounded Académie de peinture et de sculpture on 24 November 1731. His morceau de réception (reception piece) was his Rinaldo and Armida of 1734. Boucher married Marie-Jeanne Buzeau in 1733. The couple had three children together. Boucher became

528-759: The death of his wife, temperamental instability, and frustration at his inability to attain artistic perfection have been submitted. He chose death by sword, stabbing himself a total of nine times in the chest and throat. This was six months after finishing the ceiling painting " L'apothéose d'Hercule " in the Salon d'Hercule in the grand appartement du roi , and the day after completing the painting Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy for his friend and patron François Berger. Lemoyne has been characterized by David Wakefield as "industrious, painstaking and serious." Lemoyne's early studies in Rome instilled in him knowledge of

561-477: The end the first place prize of 5,000 livres was jointly awarded to Lemoyne and de Troy, a compromise which frustrated them both. In 1728, Lemoyne was awarded a royal commission to paint the ceiling of the Salon d’Hercule at Versailles , which he worked on from 1733 to 1736. He had seen similar paintings in Italy (such as Pietro da Cortona ’s in the Palazzo Barberini ), and sought to prove that

594-452: The esteem of his contemporaries and the name of the "new Le Brun ". He collaborated with or worked alongside other artists of the era, including Donat Nonnotte , Gilles Dutilleul , Charles de La Fosse , and Coypel . He killed himself in 1737, at the height of his career. With his death, the fashion of large allegorical ceilings disappeared. Lemoyne was born in Paris in 1688 and studied under Louis Galloche until 1713. In 1711, Lemoyne won

627-417: The events of the campaign, amusing and stimulating the spirits of the men. So popular were Favart and his troupe that the enemy became desirous of hearing his company and sharing his services, and permission was given to gratify them, battles and comedies thus curiously alternating with each other. The marshal, an admirer of Mme Favart, began to pay her unwanted attentions. To escape him she went to Paris, and

660-530: The extramarital relationships of the King. Boucher gained lasting notoriety through such private commissions for wealthy collectors and, after Diderot expressed his disapproval, his reputation came under increasing critical attack during the last years of his career. Along with his painting, Boucher also designed theater costumes and sets, and the ardent intrigues of the comic operas of Charles Simon Favart closely paralleled his own style of painting. Tapestry design

693-465: The hopes of reviving history painting among members of the Académie. Only one Salon had been held since 1704 (in 1725), so this offered a rare opportunity for public exhibition of paintings. Twelve paintings were submitted in all, by artists including Charles-Antoine Coypel and Noel-Nicholas Coypel . Opinion was widely divided, with critical opinion favoring the paintings by the two Coypels, but in

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726-505: The neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David in 1767. Later, Boucher made a series of drawings of works by Guay which Madame de Pompadour then engraved and distributed as a handsomely bound volume to favored courtiers. Boucher took inspiration from artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and Antoine Watteau . Boucher's early works celebrate the idyllic and tranquil portrayal of nature and landscape with great elan. However, his art typically forgoes traditional rural innocence to portray scenes with

759-742: The small blank spaces of the elaborately decorated paneling of luxury dwellings. Boucher's most original inventions were decorative, and he contributed to the fashionable style of chinoiserie , after having etched 12 'Figures Chinoises' (Chinese figures) by Watteau. This is an incomplete list of works by François Boucher . Adapted from a following source: Freitag, Wolfgang M. (1997) [1985]. Art Books: A Basic Bibliography of Monographs on Artists (2nd ed.). New York, London: Garland. pp. 42–43, entries nos. 1200–1213. ISBN   0-8240-3326-4 . LCCN   96028425 . Fran%C3%A7ois Lemoyne François Lemoyne or François Le Moine ( French: [fʁɑ̃swa ləmwan] ; 1688 – 4 June 1737)

792-485: The state of the literary and theatrical worlds in the 18th century. Favart's plays are also known to have inspired his close friend, the artist François Boucher, to create numerous paintings featuring Favart's characters of "the little Shepherd" and the shepherdess "Lisette." These include Boucher's The Agreeable Lesson (also known as The Flute Players ) of 1748 and An Autumn Pastoral (also known as The Grape Eaters ) of 1749. In turn, these paintings inspired artists of

825-618: The tapestry showing Psyche and the Basketmaker from 1741 to 1742 . Boucher was also called upon for designs for court festivities organized by that section of the King's household called the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi and for the opera and for royal châteaux Versailles , Fontainebleau and Choisy . His designs for all of the aforementioned augmented his earlier reputation, resulting in many engravings from his work and even reproduction of his designs on porcelain and biscuit-ware at

858-724: The works of the Old Masters, Raphael, Correggio, and Titian, though his strongest influence was undoubtedly Rubens (particularly in his use of color). During his second trip in 1723, Lemoyne admired the ceiling of the Palazzo Barberini and found inspiration in the works of the Venetians, particularly Paolo Veronese . Over the course of his career, Lemoyne's style shifted more in favor of the Italian influence. Pierre Rosenberg describes Lemoyne's style as "refined and introverted." Philip Conisbee refers to Lemoyne's paintings as having

891-409: The wrath of Saxe fell upon the husband. A lettre de cachet was issued against him, but he fled to Strasbourg and found concealment in a cellar. Favart survived his wife by twenty years. After the marshal's death in 1750 he returned to Paris and resumed his pursuits as a dramatist. It was at this time that he became friendly with the abbé de Voisenon , who helped him with his work, to what extent

924-424: Was La France delivrée par la Pucelle d'Orléans , a poem about Joan of Arc which obtained a prize of the Académie des Jeux Floraux . After the production of his first vaudeville , Les Deux Jumelles (1734), circumstances enabled him to relinquish business and devote himself entirely to the drama. He provided many pieces anonymously for the lesser theatres, and first put his name to La Chercheuse d'esprit , which

957-627: Was a French rococo painter. He was a winner of the Prix de Rome , professor of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture , and Premier peintre du Roi to Louis XV . He was tutor to Charles-Joseph Natoire and François Boucher . Throughout his career, Lemoyne sought to be seen as the heir to Charles Le Brun and the leading painter of his generation, titles also vied for by his rival Jean-François de Troy (1679–1752). Lemoyne's work and talent, notably plied in Versailles , earned him

990-416: Was a great demand by collectors. Boucher followed standard studio practices of the time, by first working out the overall composition of his major canvases, and then making chalk studies for individual figures, or groups of figures. He also relied on oil and gouache sketches in the preparation of major commissions. Gradually he made more and more sketches as independent works for the market. The Adoration of

1023-527: Was also a concern. For the Beauvais tapestry workshops he first designed a series of Fêtes italiennes ("Italian festivals") in 1736, which proved to be very successful and often rewoven over the years, and then, commissioned in 1737, a suite of the story of Cupid and Psyche . During two decades' involvement with the Beauvais tapestry workshops Boucher produced designs for six series of hangings in all, like

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1056-537: Was as a master of the genre scene, where he regularly used his own wife and children as models. These intimate family scenes are contrasting to the licentious style seen in his Odalisque portraits. The dark-haired version of the Odalisque portraits prompted claims by the art critic Denis Diderot that Boucher was "prostituting his own wife", and the Blonde Odalisque was a portrait that illustrated

1089-528: Was produced in 1741. Among his most successful works were Annette et Lubin; Le Coq du milage (1743); Les Vendanges de Tempé (1745), later reworked as La Vallée de Montmorency (1752); Ninette à la cour (1753); Les Trois Sultanes (1761) and L'Anglais de Bordeaux (1763). Favart became director of the Opéra-Comique , and in 1745 married Marie Justine Benoîte Duronceray , a beautiful young dancer, singer and actress, who as "Mlle Chantilly" had made

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