Preview

Francois Boucher

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4287 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Francois Boucher
Pg 3 info-
"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)
Title
The

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The piece of Art, Smiling Girl, a Courtesan Holding an Obscene Image, painted by Gerrit van Honthorst in 1625 can be seen at the Saint Louis Art Museum. I was initially drawn to this image from across the gallery mostly due to the subject’s bright red dress with gold sleeves, it was one of the brightest colored images in the gallery. It is about three feet tall and two feet wide, it is an oil on canvas painting. As I approached the image, I was still intrigued as the image she is holding is of a naked man facing away, the subject in the painting seems to get enjoyment from this. To me this piece of art makes me curious, I want to know who this woman was and why she is holding that image. The artist seems to be communicating the importance of…

    • 1404 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This painting was commissioned by the Medici family in Florence. To this day the painting remains in Florence and is hung in the Uffizi Gallery (“Birth of Venus by Botticelli”). This was made during the time of the Renaissance in which people had become more open minded. Venus was one of the first non-biblical nude figure in Italian art. This was very different than works done by other painters because before this painting, not many nude women were painted in Italy (“Birth of Venus” 2).…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Classicism Dbq

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages

    These are Greek people who were until the Renaissance largely forgotten in the Europe. With the Renaissance, interest in Greek culture lead to this painting. The painting is a perfect example how interest in Greek art leads to classicism. In document 4, the document is a painting of Venus, a roman goddess of love, and along with…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Singleton Copley’s painting: Mars, Venus, and Vulcan: The Forge of Vulcan features Venus which is the symbol of love and sex. It shows Venus as very seductive young woman. It also has cupid’s arrows which also represents love. Half of the painting is painted dark giving the painting a dreadful feeling. Half of the painting is painted light giving the feeling of relief. There are three cupids in the picture doing completely different things. One of the cupid’s is silencing everyone, one is tormenting the soldier while the last one tries to steal the soldier sword. There is also what seems like a peasant in the painting trying to get some of Venus love potion. The texture on this painting is very smooth. The tree looks realistic and so do the clouds. The colors in the painting that stands out is red and blue. Red represents strength and blue represents trust. This painting tells a story about a soldier who cannot be seduced easily not even by Venus’s love.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rococo vs. Neoclassicism

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    France is known for being one of many artist powerhouses of the 18th century. The art styles reflected the attitude and culture of the time. Two major styles, Rococo and Neoclassical varied in similarities and differences such as theme, style, and whether the artist was influenced politically or philosophical. It’s true that Rococo was taken by storm over night at the dawn of Neoclassical. However both of the styles suited it’s era from the carefree life styles of the aristocracy to the inner nature of the people of the revolution.…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I found three particular compositions to be representative of their era or genre. The first of which is an oil painting on a wood panel by an Englishman named William Larkin to be completed in 1610. This piece, entitled Mary Radclyffe, is a portrait of King James’s wife, Mary Radclyffe. It is very obvious to see, after reviewing the Roman artistic style of idealizing an individual in a realistic way, that this is a idealized view of Radclyffe. As a matter of fact, William Larkin was one of the last artists to work in this refined, elegant portrait style of Elizabeth I. The clothing Radclyffe is donning in the aforementioned painting is typical of the high class during the time it was completed in the early 17th century. This piece can also be classified as having a Baroque nature about it. The Baroque cultural movement pertained to not only art, but music, dance, and literature as well. The artistic style emits a sense of awe and a tremendous attention to detail which is seldom mistaken for any other method. This Idealized style derives from Plato and the “higher reality of eternal truths” which he refers to in his book, the Theory of Forms.…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Guy Lafleur

    • 2579 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The Forum is disturbingly empty: just a few players sit quietly cocooned away in a dressing room; twenty-five or thirty staff work in distant upstairs offices; throughout the rest of its vast insides a few dozen men are busy washing, painting, fixing, tidying things up. There is one other person. Entering the corridor to the dressing room, I hear muffed, reverberating sounds from the ice, and before I can see who it is, I know it's Lafleur. Like a kid on a backyard rink, he skates by himself many minutes before anyone joins him, shooting pucks easily off the boards, watching them rebound, moving skates and gloved hands wherever his inventive instincts direct them to go. Here, far from the expedience of a game, away from defenders and linemates who shackle him to their banal predictability, alone with his virtuoso skills, it is his time to create.…

    • 2579 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Venus of Willendorf

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Venus of Willendorf possesses enlarged breasts, a rounded belly, and wide hips which all accentuate her fertility. Her arms and legs are extremely disproportionate as those are not vital to her fertility and femininity. Her hands rest atop her fleshy breats as if to frame and bring more focus to them. The main emphasis of this small figurine is definitely the center of her body where her breasts, pubic area and thighs all are joined to her plump belly. The ochre color that covers most of this figurine symbolizes the red color of menstrual blood that represents and is very essential to fertility. It is also interesting to note that the sculptor never made feet for this statue, as though it was not meant to stand upright. It is possible that the lack of feet would prevent the statuette from leaving when she was placed in a certain place (Witcombe).…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The painting of the birth of Venus painted by sandro Botticelli; the medium used to illustrate the comperission is tempera on a canvas.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another famous painting that she painted was called Marie Antoinette, it was over nine feet high and six feet wide, the queen is extravagantly depicted in a dress of blue velvet with a white taffeta skirt and a matching blue toque, finished with a white feather and plumes (pg.336). Another famous royal painting is the double portrait of Madame Roayle and Dauphine Louis Joseph from Versailles, two of the oldest children of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI are painted playing with a nest of birds, whose open red beaks portray their hunger. From her Italian years Vigee Le burn painted a portrait named Emma Hart, the Future Lady Hamilton, as Ariadne, it portrays Ariadne reclining against a grassy knoll before an open sea, draped below her lavish body is a leopard’s skin complete with the head and paws (pg.337). In her travels Vigee Le burn was supported by the royalty, especially Naples and Vienna, which where ruled by relatives of Marie Antoinette, but also in St. Petersburg and Potsdam. Vigee Le burn painted five paintings for the Neapolitan monarchs, the most famous one was called Francesco di Borbone, and it is of the thirteen year old prince.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sandro Botticelli’s, The Birth of Venus, and Titian’s, Venus of Urbino are two paintings featuring the female nude, Venus as the main figure of the paintings. She is a classical representation of beauty and sensuality. Although these paintings have similar attributes such as the use of linear perspective, chiaroscuro, and their similar period style they have different hidden meanings. The Birth of Venus shows the story of how Venus came to be and portrays different gods and goddesses while in The Venus of Urbino, it is more of an allegory for marriage.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another fertility figure, The Venus of Laussel. Different from others the Venus of Laussel is bas-relief. A bas-relief is a sculpture in which shapes are carved so that they are higher than a flat surface background. The fertility figure is 17.5 inches and was made from red-ochre. The hips, breasts and buttocks are noticeable. Unlike other figures the Venus of Laussel hands are given more detail. The figure hands are on her belly and she holds an object in her fingers. Similarly, to the Venus of Dolni Vestonice she has no facial features.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once hung in a Medici villa, Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, ca. 1485, is one of the most treasured artworks of the Renaissance. The composition is opened up more, compared to Botticelli’s Primavera, a similar styled painting done a few years prior. The central figure in this tempera painting is the goddess Venus (also known as Aphrodite in Greek mythology). She graces us with her presence by floating to the shore, pushed from the winds of gods (Zephyr accompanied by Chloris), on a seashell. A flower-clad woman, or Nymph, named Pomona reaches from the shore to cover Venus with a orange-coral floral cloak. With the gods in the left corner and Pomona on the right along with the trees and their leaves reaching towards Venus, they create…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eggs in a pan

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The artist, Antoine Vollon, was born in France in the year 1833. He focused primarily on still life painting but also painted figures and landscapes. During his lifetime he enjoyed the status of a celebrity and was widely acknowledged with a great reputation. After completing an apprenticeship as an engraver, teaching himself painting and printmaking, he moved from Lyon to Paris in the year 1859 to further his craft. He was very inspired by the Dutch style of still life painting during that time, which is evident in his own style.…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The nudity of Venus has a link to Eve in the Garden of Eden. This has led some commentators to speculate whether Venus is a personification of the Christian Church. It is a fact that in acient times that the title of the Virgin Mary was "stella maris": star of the sea. Perhaps Botticellis was only trying to make a statement but this statement caused chaos in the…

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays