Artwork Page for Music and Dance

Details / Information for Music and Dance

Music and Dance

1740s

François Boucher

(French, 1703–1770)
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Culture
France, 18th century
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 77.5 x 131.5 x 6 cm (30 1/2 x 51 3/4 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 69 x 123 cm (27 3/16 x 48 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Louis Dudley Beaumont Foundation 1948.181.1
Public Domain
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Location
216B French and German
Print

Description

Along with Cupids in Conspiracy (1948.181.2), this work is surely part of a series of over-door paintings that would have been installed in a house. However, where the panels were originally installed or who commissioned them remains unknown. They exemplify the fusion of fine arts and decorative arts that was common in elite interior design in 18th-century France. Even though the paintings were part of the wall decoration of the room, the patrons chose François Boucher, a well-known painter of portraits and genre scenes, as well as mythological and religious subjects, to execute them. These two paintings reflect a style that was popular both at court and among other wealthy patrons through much of the eighteenth century: light, charming, pastoral scenes that mix classical elements with pure fantasy. Both of them feature putti, chubby baby characters that add a touch of humor to the images.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts six nude children with light skin tones in a landscape, with two children sitting at left on blue and red drapery. One plays a pipe while the other holds sticks over a tambourine. To the right, four children stand by a stone fountain with carved scrollwork, one child lifting another. Water spills from the fountain. The background features distant green hills under a cloudy, pale blue sky.

Music and Dance

1740s

François Boucher

(French, 1703–1770)
France, 18th century

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