Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Signed and dated (lower right): f-Boucher 1751
Gallery Label An epitome of Boucher's Rococo style, the painting and its pendant, "Venus Consoling Love" (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), were commissioned by Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, for her Château de Bellevue, near Paris. While this is not a portrait of Madame de Pompadour, she had played the title role in "The Toilet of Venus," a play staged at Versailles in 1750. An allusion was doubtless intended.
Notes This picture and its pendant "Venus Consoling Love" (Natonal Gallery of Art, Washington) are described by Dezallier d'Argenville in his "Voyage pittoresque des environs de Paris" (Ref. 1762) as decorating the appartement des bains of Madame de Pompadour's château de Bellevue.
Provenance marquise de Pompadour, appartement des bains, château de Bellevue (1751–d. 1764; inv., 1764, no. 1230.–78); her brother, Abel François Poisson, marquis de Vandières, later marquis de Marigny, still later marquis de Ménars, Paris (1764–d. 1781; his estate sale, Basan & Joullain, Paris, March 18–April 6, 1782, no. 19, for 587 livres to Chéreau); Chéreau (from 1782); Monsieur de Boullongne (his estate sale, Georges & Bizet, Paris, November 19, 1787, no. 6, for 460 livres to Le Brun); [Le Brun, Paris, from 1787]; Charles-Alexandre de Calonne, Paris (his anonymous sale, Le Brun, Paris, April 21–30, 1788, no. 156, for 396 livres to Marin); Monsieur Marin (1788–90; his estate sale, Le Brun, jeune & Saubert, Paris, March 22, 1790, no. 336 [with reversed dimensions], for 316 livres to Le Brun jeune [bought in?]); ?the maternal grandfather or great grandfather of the comte de la Béraudière (from 1790); comte Jacques de la Béraudière, Paris (by 1880–85; his estate sale, Mannheim, Féral, Haro et al., Paris, May 18–30, 1885, no. 4, ill., for Fr 133,000 to Lacroix); Lacroix (from 1885); [C. J. Wertheimer, London; sold by 1895 to Mrs. Vanderbilt]; Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, New York (until 1895); William K. Vanderbilt, New York (1895–d. 1920)
Exhibition History New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "French Painting and Sculpture of the XVIII Century," November 6, 1935–January 5, 1936, no. 30.
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "French Painting: 1100–1900," October 18–December 2, 1951, no. 88.
Worcester Art Museum. "Condition: Excellent," March 22–April 22, 1951, no. 5.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 128.
Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum. "Homage to Mozart," March 22–April 29, 1956, no. 7.
Kansas City, Mo. William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art. "The Century of Mozart," January 15–March 1, 1956, no. 7.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 15, 1970–February 15, 1971, no. 304.
New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc.. "Paris — New York, A Continuing Romance," November 3–December 17, 1977, no. 30.
Detroit. Detroit Institute of Arts. "François Boucher, 1703–1770," May 27–August 17, 1986, no. 60.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "François Boucher, 1703–1770," February 17–May 4, 1986, no. 60.
Paris. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. "François Boucher, 1703–1770," September 19, 1986–January 5, 1987, no. 60.
Leningrad [St. Petersburg]. State Hermitage Museum. "Masterpieces of Western European Painting of the XVIth–XXth Centuries from the Museums of the European Countries and USA," October 2, 1989–January 31, 1990, no. 18.
London. National Gallery. "Madame de Pompadour et les arts," October 16, 2002–January 12, 2003, no. 47.
Munich. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. "Madame de Pompadour et les arts," June 14–September 15, 2002, no. 47.
Versailles. Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. "Madame de Pompadour et les arts," February 14–May 19, 2002, no. 47.
References D[ezallier d'Argenville, Antoine-Nicolas]. Voyage pittoresque des environs de Paris, ou description des maisons royales, châteaux & autres lieux de plaisance, situés à quinze lieues aux environs de cette ville . 2nd ed. Paris, 1762, p. 32.Posthumous inventory of Madame de Pompadour . 1764, no. 1230–78 [published in Jean Cordey, "Inventaire des biens de Madame de Pompadour rédigé après son décès, Paris, 1939, p. 90].L'art du dix-huitième siècle . 1, 3rd ed. Paris, 1880, p. 191.François Boucher . Paris, 1889, pp. 54–55 n. 1.in André Michel. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint et dessiné de François Boucher . Paris, [1906], p. 19, no. 283.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 2 (March 1907), p. 45.in Pierre de Nolhac. François Boucher, premier peintre du roi, 1703–1770 . Paris, 1907, p. 123.Catalogue of the Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art . 10th issue. New York, 1909, under Addenda, November 1906 to March 1907, Paintings Lent, in Gallery 19, unpaginated.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15 (December 1920), pp. 268–69, ill.Boucher, premier peintre du roi . Paris, 1925, p. 93.The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Catalogue of Paintings . 9th ed. New York, 1931, pp. 28–29, no. B66–2.in French Painting and Sculpture of the XVIII Century . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1935, p. 7, pl. 30.Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 230–31, no. 128, colorpl. 128.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), pp. 5, 36, ill.The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of French Paintings . 1, Cambridge, Mass., 1955, pp. 136–38, ill.Baroque and Rococo Art . New York, 1969, pp. 180–81, ill.Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 1970, p. 190 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].Apollo 97 (January 1973), p. 88, fig. 5, and ill. in color on cover.Georgia Review 29 (Summer 1975), pp. 446, 465, fig. 10.François Boucher . 2, Lausanne, 1976, vol. 2, pp. 78–81, no. 376, fig. 1103.in Paris—New York: A Continuing Romance . Exh. cat., Wildenstein. New York, 1977, pp. 45–46, no. 30, fig. 37.L'oeuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild . Paris, 1978, p. 300, no. 1225, ill.The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 1980, p. 364, fig. 669 (color).in Diderot & l'art de Boucher à David, les Salons: 1759–1781 . Exh. cat., Hôtel de la Monnaie. Paris, 1984, pp. 140–42, no. 37, ill.in François Boucher, 1703–1770 . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1986, pp. 255–58, no. 60, ill in color and on cover [French ed., 1986, pp. 256–58, no. 60, ill. (color)].Simiolus 17, no. 1 (1987), pp. 46, 51.Masterpieces of Western European Painting of the XVIth–XXth Centuries from the Museums of the European Countries and USA . Exh. cat., State Hermitage Museum. Leningrad [St. Petersburg], 1989, unpaginated, no. 18, ill in color.Art Bulletin 72 (March 1990), p. 77 n. 17.in Claude to Corot: The Development of Landscape Painting in France . Exh. cat., Colnaghi. New York, 1990, p. 113.The Loves of the Gods: Mythological Painting from Watteau to David . Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum. New York, 1992, p. 412.in Creating French Culture: Treasures from the Bibliothèque nationale de France . Exh. cat., Library of Congress. New Haven, 1995, pp. 328–29.in Faszination Venus: Bilder einer Göttin von Cranach bis Cabanel . Exh. cat., Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Cologne, 2000, pp. 153–54, 247, 264, ill. (in color and black and white).in Madame de Pompadour et les arts . Exh. cat., Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. Paris, 2002, pp. 176–77, no. 47, ill. in color.Rethinking Boucher . Los Angeles, 2006, p. 170, ill. p. 171.
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