Artwork Page for Fountain of Venus

Details / Information for Fountain of Venus

Fountain of Venus

1756

François Boucher

(French, 1703–1770)
Culture
France, 18th century
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 246 x 228.5 x 6.5 cm (96 7/8 x 89 15/16 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 233 x 215 cm (91 3/4 x 84 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
The Thomas L. Fawick Memorial Collection 1979.55
Public Domain
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Location
216B French and German
Print

Description

Lighthearted, erotic decorative schemes remained popular among the French aristocracy throughout the 1700s. In this painting, part of the playfulness comes from the way Boucher painted some of the figures in gray, as if made of stone, while the others are fully human. The artist toyed with the boundaries of painting and sculpture, as well as fiction and reality.The original purpose of this painting remains unclear. While it may have been exhibited as an independent work of art, it probably served initially as a preliminary design for a tapestry.
A vertically oriented oil painting depicts water rushing around figures appearing progressively more statuelike the farther up they are, a central figure a nude white stonelike woman. She looks at a nude child holding an orb and places her hand on the back of a fish-tailed person behind her. Another such person blows a horn below, both with medium-light skin tones. A crumbling structure overrun with flowering plants rises behind. White birds sit behind the woman.

Fountain of Venus

1756

François Boucher

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

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