Portrait of a Lady
François Boucher, Portrait of a Lady, 1760/1770, oil on canvas, Museum Purchase: Funds provided by an Anonymous Donor, public domain, 65.13
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Portrait of a Lady
- Artist
- Date
1760/1770
- Period
Rococo
- Medium
oil on canvas
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
29 3/8 in x 24 1/8 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
signature/maker's mark: signed lower right
- Collection Area
European Art
- Category
Paintings
- Object Type
painting
- Culture
French
French
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Funds provided by an Anonymous Donor
- Accession Number
65.13
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
The name of the painter François Boucher is synonymous with the French Rococo-style that reached its highpoint in the middle of the eighteenth century.
Although the traditional identification of this portrait as a depiction of Boucher's great patron, Madame de Pompadour, is no longer accepted, the sitter was certainly a lady of influence. Boucher was not primarily a portraitist and, as the favorite artist of the royal mistress, he did not want for employment. This late work seems, in fact, less a precise record of a specific set of facial features than a rendering of the ideal of femininity that dominated the Rococo style.
