Leda and the Swan, after Boucher

The composition is after Boucher's Leda and the Swan of 1742, now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (Alexandre Ananoff and Daniel Wildenstein, François Boucher, Lausanne, 1976, no. 222). Although the present miniature has been regarded by some authorities as by Charlier, it is a good anonymous nineteenth-century copy. Charlier was a prolific painter in miniature of mythological and gallant scenes for the menus plaisirs and styled himself peintre du roi. Many of his subjects were closely based on paintings or drawings by François Boucher (1703–1770), and he is said to have been Boucher's pupil. The Wallace Collection, London, has thirty-four miniatures by or attributed to him. A second miniature version of this composition, probably by Charlier, is in the Wallace Collection (Graham Reynolds, Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Miniatures, London, 1980, no. 77, ill.). A third, attributed to Charlier, was sold at the Mme J. Brasseur sale, Paris, April 15, 1921, no. 4. A fourth, which was ascribed to the atelier of François Boucher, was in the Giulia P. Morosini estate sale, American Art Association - Anderson Galleries, New York, October 15, 1932, no. 1583, ill.

[2016; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

[Bensimon, Aix-les-Bains, until 1929; sold to Fredrick]; Mrs. Leopold (Millie Bruhl) Fredrick, New York (1929–d. 1962; inv., 1960, no. 69)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Eighteenth-Century Woman," December 12, 1981–September 5, 1982, unnumbered cat. (p. 60, as by Charlier).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 249.

Edward Grosvenor Paine. Inventory of the miniatures in the Fredrick collection. 1960, p. 10, no. 69, attributes it to Charlier and dates it about 1775.

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 185–86, no. 249, ill., call it a good anonymous nineteenth-century copy.