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Lot Essay
The present canvas is a workshop variation of an original painting by Boucher made in the early 1730s for his patron, the Paris attorney François Derbais. Boucher's original is most likely the version being offered in the present sale, lot 331. It was engraved by Etienne Fessard as the pendant to Sornique's engraving of L'amour nageur and the two prints were announced in the Mercure de France in August 1741. Boucher created a set of four seasonal allegories for Derbais with putti or cupids as the protagonists.
Alastair Laing has noted (written communication, 6 September 2005) that there is an oblong firescreen tapestry of L'amour vendangeur, woven at Beauvais, in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, that is close in format to the present lot, though it adds a gourd and some birds that do not appear in other versions.
Although we have catalogued L'amour vendangeur ('Love the Grape Harvester') as a studio work, it is sold with a photocopy of a certificate from Alexandre Ananoff verifying the painting as from the hand of François Boucher.
We are grateful to Alastair Laing for his assistance with this entry.
Alastair Laing has noted (written communication, 6 September 2005) that there is an oblong firescreen tapestry of L'amour vendangeur, woven at Beauvais, in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, that is close in format to the present lot, though it adds a gourd and some birds that do not appear in other versions.
Although we have catalogued L'amour vendangeur ('Love the Grape Harvester') as a studio work, it is sold with a photocopy of a certificate from Alexandre Ananoff verifying the painting as from the hand of François Boucher.
We are grateful to Alastair Laing for his assistance with this entry.