"Francois Boucher painted The Toilet of Venus. This painting was custom-made for Madame de Pompadour as part of the decoration for her cabinet de toilette at the Chateau de Bellevue, which was one of the residences she shared with King Louis XV. In the painting there are cupids and doves which are attributes of Venus as the goddess of Love. The flowers allude to her role as patroness of gardens and the pearls reflect her mysterious birth from the sea. Francois made the painting during the Rococo Style period. As a painter of nudes, Boucher had no equal in his generation. "
Painter François Boucher (1703-1770) was an important French artist who created works in the Rococo style. He was inspired by several sources, ranging from Classical mythology to more contemporary pursuits and passions. Indeed, Boucher is best known for his fashionably frivolous depictions of rosy-cheeked aristocratic ladies, pudgy putti, and idealized mythological subjects.
The Toilet of Venus (1751) typifies the superficially pleasing elegance of Boucher‘s late mature style.
Likewise painted for the royal mistress is The Toilet of Venus, an exquisite cabinet painting in which the surface has been brought to a high state of polish, setting off the pearly flesh tones of Venus and the sumptuous fabrics that surround her.
No French painter of the 18th century was more inextricably linked to court patronage than François Boucher. This picture was commissioned by Madame de Pompadour as part of the decoration for her cabinet de toilette at the Château de Bellevue, one of the residences she shared with Louis XV. The cupids and the doves are attributes of Venus as goddess of Love. The flowers allude to her role as patroness of gardens and the pearls to her mysterious birth from the sea. As a painter of nudes Boucher ranks with Rubens in the 17th century and Renoir in the 19th; among his contemporaries he had no equal
Artist
François Boucher (French, 1703–1770)
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