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Lot Essay
This idyllic pastoral landscape is a luminous example of François Boucher's output at the height of his career. Painted in 1748, it depicts a young peasant woman lifting her skirt to wade through a stream while a boy crouches on the rocks beside her, playfully splashing water at her legs. Above them, a dovecote rises before a stone bridge, with doves flitting about and perched along its exterior. Another woman emerges from the shadowed doorway of a cottage. The composition uses similar elements to an earlier work by Boucher, The old dovecote, dated before 1747, now in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (fig. 1). The Hamburg picture was published by Alexandre Ananonff in 1976 alongside its pendant (Sotheby's, London, 5 July 2005, lot 14), dated 1739, which together depict views from or near the village of Charenton, just east of Paris where the Seine and Marne rivers merge (op. cit., I, pp. 288-289, nos. 167 and 168).
This landscape was once owned by Jean-Claude Gaspard de Sireul, one of the most important collectors of Boucher's drawings during the artist's lifetime. His posthumous sale in 1781 comprised more than two hundred drawings and sixteen paintings by Boucher, including the present work. The sale catalogue expressed admiration for this painting, noting that Boucher 'a réuni dans cette composition gracieuse tout ce qui pouvoit contribuer à l'enrichir, & ce Morceau qu'il avoit fait pour Mademoiselle Favart, est une de ses plus brillantes productions' ['has brought together in this graceful composition everything that could contribute to enriching it, and this piece that he had made for Mademoiselle Favart is one of his most brilliant productions'].
The ‘Mademoiselle Favart' mentioned is Marie Justine Benoîte Favart, a celebrated actress, dancer and opera singer of 18th century France. She began her career as 'Madame Duronceray' and in 1745, she married Charles Simon Favart, a playwriter and the director of the Opéra-Comique, where together they became leading figures in shaping operatic taste in Paris. Boucher was well acquainted with the couple, as he has been active as a theater designer in Paris from as early as 1737 and worked on productions at the Opéra-Comique between 1743 and 1754.
It was during these years Boucher produced many of his most refined pastoral scenes, introducing a naivete not seen in such works by his predecessors. At the same time, Favart was transforming the theater with dramas infused with Arcadian themes, which harmonized perfectly with Boucher’s pastoral imagery. This collaboration placed Boucher at the intersection of visual and performing arts, and his paintings often echo the theatricality of stage scenery—lush landscapes, artfully arranged figures, and dramatic lighting. The present work, with its carefully orchestrated rustic setting and narrative interplay between figures, exemplifies this theatrical sensibility, likely painted with 'Mademoiselle Favart' in mind.
In the early 20th century, the painting was owned by the French perfumer, newspaper publisher and politician François Coty, who had the canvas cleaned. During this process, certain details—likely 19th-century additions—were removed, including a shepherd and his dog on the bridge. These additions can be seen in the 1913 catalogue of the Eugène Kraemer sale.
This landscape was once owned by Jean-Claude Gaspard de Sireul, one of the most important collectors of Boucher's drawings during the artist's lifetime. His posthumous sale in 1781 comprised more than two hundred drawings and sixteen paintings by Boucher, including the present work. The sale catalogue expressed admiration for this painting, noting that Boucher 'a réuni dans cette composition gracieuse tout ce qui pouvoit contribuer à l'enrichir, & ce Morceau qu'il avoit fait pour Mademoiselle Favart, est une de ses plus brillantes productions' ['has brought together in this graceful composition everything that could contribute to enriching it, and this piece that he had made for Mademoiselle Favart is one of his most brilliant productions'].
The ‘Mademoiselle Favart' mentioned is Marie Justine Benoîte Favart, a celebrated actress, dancer and opera singer of 18th century France. She began her career as 'Madame Duronceray' and in 1745, she married Charles Simon Favart, a playwriter and the director of the Opéra-Comique, where together they became leading figures in shaping operatic taste in Paris. Boucher was well acquainted with the couple, as he has been active as a theater designer in Paris from as early as 1737 and worked on productions at the Opéra-Comique between 1743 and 1754.
It was during these years Boucher produced many of his most refined pastoral scenes, introducing a naivete not seen in such works by his predecessors. At the same time, Favart was transforming the theater with dramas infused with Arcadian themes, which harmonized perfectly with Boucher’s pastoral imagery. This collaboration placed Boucher at the intersection of visual and performing arts, and his paintings often echo the theatricality of stage scenery—lush landscapes, artfully arranged figures, and dramatic lighting. The present work, with its carefully orchestrated rustic setting and narrative interplay between figures, exemplifies this theatrical sensibility, likely painted with 'Mademoiselle Favart' in mind.
In the early 20th century, the painting was owned by the French perfumer, newspaper publisher and politician François Coty, who had the canvas cleaned. During this process, certain details—likely 19th-century additions—were removed, including a shepherd and his dog on the bridge. These additions can be seen in the 1913 catalogue of the Eugène Kraemer sale.