François BOUCHER (Paris, 1703-1770) - Lot 133

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Lot n° 133
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Estimation :
100000 - 150000 EUR
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François BOUCHER (Paris, 1703-1770) - Lot 133
François BOUCHER (Paris, 1703-1770) Still life with lapwing and variegated fighter Original canvas Height : 45 cm Width: 33.7 cm Louis XIV period gilded wood frame Signed lower left f. Boucher Nature morte au vanneau huppé et au combattant varié is a rare and precious foray by François Boucher into the still-life genre. It is the first to have been found. The quality of its execution, the confident brushstrokes, the controlled impastos and the meticulous rendering of textures, especially feathers, testify to the artist's accomplished craftsmanship at his peak. The dominance of blacks subtly shaded with deep greens, the balance of the composition and the elegance of the pictorial material link this work to the 1745s, when Boucher was moving away from the 17th-century Nordic influences that had nurtured his early work. He was not the only 18th-century history and landscape painter, or portrait painter, who, episodically and sometimes even episodically and sometimes even uniquely, painted inanimate objects, including Largillière, Subleyras, Taraval, Liotard, Vien, or even the sculptor Houdon (la grive morte, coll. part.) and Goya. While some of his genre scenes from the early 1730s, such as La Belle Cuisinière, La Belle Villageoise and Le Retour du marché, incorporate still-life elements, our canvas is stylistically closer to the hunting trophies seen at the foot of Diane au bain (Musée du Louvre, 1742) or in Le Repos des nymphes de Diane au retour de la chasse (Musée Cognacq-Jay, 1745, inv. J.10). This type of subject immediately evokes Jean-Baptiste Oudry, who specialized in them and with whom Boucher was close from the 1730s onwards. Their collaboration at the Beauvais manufactory from 1736, as well as Boucher's acquisition before 1739 of Nature morte avec une perdrix et un lapin by Oudry (now at Drottningholm Castle, inv. DRH 28), attest to their artistic dialogue. Although many of Boucher's still lifes have disappeared, we know from the Memoirs of his pupil Johann-Christian von Mannlich (French edition, 1949, p. 217) that he spent two hours every morning painting the objects within his reach, scrupulously applying Oudry's principles set out in his lecture Manière d'étudier la couleur en comparant les objets entre eux (Académie royale, 1749). Our still life is a perfect example of this practice, combining the illusionism inherited from 17th-century Dutch trompe-l'oeil (raised nail, luminous glow, knotted cord) with the sensuality of the rocaille aesthetic. The fluid, slightly impastoed material, particularly in the blue-gray tones of the plumage, indicates a painting designed for an enlightened amateur. The discreet signature, well integrated into the material, suggests a commission rather than a simple workshop exercise. We would like to thank Françoise Joulie for her help in drafting these notes.
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