Although he worked primarily as a painter and draftsman, Boucher found early employment as a printmaker, making etchings after the paintings and drawings of Antoine Watteau. He also etched around thirty compositions of his own designs. La Petite Reposée is one of his more ambitious efforts in this medium. The rather static composition of a young woman and a boy placed before a rustic wall is enlivened by Boucher's very free use of the etching needle.

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