Francois Boucher
Long time no see, Rococo!
But today thanks to the Museum Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid we can present one of the classic Rococo artists, Francois Boucher. Together with Fragonard, he can be considered the quintessential artist of the French Rococo. This French style spread throughout Europe during the 18th century, achieving great splendor outside of France in Austria and Germany. A sense of grace, happiness, lightness, intimacy, piquancy, and sexuality are among the features of this style, which expressed itself through scenes of a generally lighthearted, frivolous nature and which extended its influence to a wide range of objects and decoration.
Boucher executed the present canvas during his most fruitful and accomplished period in the decade of the 1740s. It depicts a rather untidy domestic interior in which a lady ties her garter while choosing her cap, shown to her by a maid seen from behind. The setting of this charming, frivolous scene provides an invaluable document about the appearance of 18th-century French interiors. The walls and chairs are covered in a bright yellow fabric, against which the gold of the Chinese screen with birds stands out. The screen conceals the far end of the room and part of a framed pastel of a woman’s head hanging from a blue bow on the end wall. The chairs and dressing table are piled with heavy, rumpled fabrics, while the floor in front of the fire is also crowded with objects such as the bellows, brush, and a fan that echo the similarly disorganized group of objects on the mantelpiece above the fire. Adding to the mood of the interior is the playful little cat that has appropriated a ball of wool or twine from the sewing bag hanging from the fire-screen and is playing with the unraveled thread.
- Mar Borobia
P.S. In love with Marie Antoinette style? Here you can read all about fashion in 18th-century France. Lace and make-up overload! :D
P.P.S. If you're looking for something amazing to hang on your wall - check out our DailyArt Prints here :)