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1750/1765

François Boucher

Associated Names
François Boucher

Artist, French, 1703 - 1770

The image depicts multiple animals and figures engaged in pastoral activities. The drawing style features fine lines, shading for texture, and motion captured through brisk brushstrokes. The color palette consists of earthy tones on a natural buff background. A variety of animals, a figure, possibly a shepherd, and a woman holding a basket are shown in the scene, with a hint of an arched stone structure in the distance.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    brown and black chalk heightened with white on brown laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Fund

  • Dimensions

    Overall: 28.7 x 44.6 cm (11 5/16 x 17 9/16 in.)
    support: 39.6 x 55.9 cm (15 9/16 x 22 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1978.4.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Jean Cailleux

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1978

  • Master Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, p. 83.

1997

  • Six Centuries/Six Artists, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997.

2012

  • The Baroque Genius of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., 2012

Bibliography

1976

  • Ananoff, Alexandre, with Daniel Wildenstein. François Boucher. 2 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1976: 171, fig. 222.

2009

  • Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009: 164, fig. 1 (color).

Inscriptions

in later hand, lower right: Boucher

Markings

BS: Francois Renaud (Lugt Supp.1042)

Wikidata ID

Q64569744

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