Lot Essay
A study for the figure of the Triton holding up a nymph on the left of the Birth and Triumph of Venus painted for the Count Tessin in 1740 and now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, P. Grat, French Painting, II, Eighteenth Century, Swedish National Art Museums, Stockholm, 1994, no. 81, illustrated, pl. 13.
This picture was the most important work that Tessin, the Swedish Ambassador to France, managed to obtain from Boucher. To Carl Härleman, an old friend of Boucher, Tessin wrote 'Boucher is doing for me a Birth of Venus: Cospetto che bella cosa! Only eyes such as yours are worthy of it...', G. van Proschwitz, Tableaux de Paris et de la cour de France 1739-1742: lettres inédites de Carl Gustaf, Comte de Tessin, Göteborg, 1983, p. 70.
No modello or drawing for the picture other than the present one seems to have survived. X-ray analysis of the picture shows that the artist painted directly onto the canvas, P. Grat, op. cit., p. 54. Indeed as Alastair Laing pointed out in a letter to the present owner, the figure may have been studied for 'another purpose for a composition including a satyr rather than a triton, and possibly for one attempting an act of rape. This is suggested by his malevolent face (though this is somewhat incongruously carried over into the painting)'. The practice of composing a picture with already existing studies was frequent among artists such as Watteau, Lancret, Pater and others. Boucher's drawing of A Head of a Woman seen from behind sold at Christie's, London, 4 July 1995, lot 133, also dating from the late 1740s, was used on two occasions by the artist, once in an overdoor and once in a tapestry. The pressure imposed on a celebrated artist such as Boucher was great. If the Birth and Triumph of Venus was the most ambitious picture Tessin ever bought from Boucher, it clearly reveals the artistic constraint imposed upon the overworked artist in his struggle to satisfy the excessive demands of his clientele.
An engraving by Petit, after a now lost drawing by Boucher, seems to relate to the reclining nymph of the Stockholm picture. The original drawing may in fact have been made by the artist after the picture in order for an engraving to be made. A small drawing of a putto in the British Museum is close in pose, but for his raised arm, to the one in the foreground of the present drawing. This may be another study which the artist adapted to suit his needs.
This picture was the most important work that Tessin, the Swedish Ambassador to France, managed to obtain from Boucher. To Carl Härleman, an old friend of Boucher, Tessin wrote 'Boucher is doing for me a Birth of Venus: Cospetto che bella cosa! Only eyes such as yours are worthy of it...', G. van Proschwitz, Tableaux de Paris et de la cour de France 1739-1742: lettres inédites de Carl Gustaf, Comte de Tessin, Göteborg, 1983, p. 70.
No modello or drawing for the picture other than the present one seems to have survived. X-ray analysis of the picture shows that the artist painted directly onto the canvas, P. Grat, op. cit., p. 54. Indeed as Alastair Laing pointed out in a letter to the present owner, the figure may have been studied for 'another purpose for a composition including a satyr rather than a triton, and possibly for one attempting an act of rape. This is suggested by his malevolent face (though this is somewhat incongruously carried over into the painting)'. The practice of composing a picture with already existing studies was frequent among artists such as Watteau, Lancret, Pater and others. Boucher's drawing of A Head of a Woman seen from behind sold at Christie's, London, 4 July 1995, lot 133, also dating from the late 1740s, was used on two occasions by the artist, once in an overdoor and once in a tapestry. The pressure imposed on a celebrated artist such as Boucher was great. If the Birth and Triumph of Venus was the most ambitious picture Tessin ever bought from Boucher, it clearly reveals the artistic constraint imposed upon the overworked artist in his struggle to satisfy the excessive demands of his clientele.
An engraving by Petit, after a now lost drawing by Boucher, seems to relate to the reclining nymph of the Stockholm picture. The original drawing may in fact have been made by the artist after the picture in order for an engraving to be made. A small drawing of a putto in the British Museum is close in pose, but for his raised arm, to the one in the foreground of the present drawing. This may be another study which the artist adapted to suit his needs.