L'amour nageur

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 probably the upright rectangular version in the James de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (see A. Ananoff, François Boucher, Lausanne, 1976, vol. I, p. 199, no. 64, fig. 300). It was engraved by Dominique Sornique as the pendant to Fessard's engraving of L'amour vendangeur 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.

Although we have catalogued L'amour nageur ('Love the swimmer') 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.