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The Dispatch of the Messenger

1765
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 631

At the Salon of 1765, Boucher exhibited this painting with three others in order to form the narrative of a simple love story: a second painting depicted the arrival of the dove carrying a love letter, a third showed a shepherdess reading the letter aloud to her confidante, and the fourth depicted the lovers finally meeting. Denis Diderot, often a harsh critic of Boucher, praised the four paintings as "a charming little poem," but he condemned the falsity of the pastoral genre, comparing it to country life as represented in French opera.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Dispatch of the Messenger
  • Artist: François Boucher (French, Paris 1703–1770 Paris)
  • Date: 1765
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: Oval, 12 5/8 x 10 1/2 in. (32.1 x 26.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Joseph Heine, in memory of her husband, I. D. Levy, 1944
  • Object Number: 44.141
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Young Girl with a Boy and a Dog, François Boucher French, Red chalk.
Young Girl with a Boy and a Dog
François Boucher
18th century
Drawing for "La Colonne Trajane", François Boucher French, Red chalk
Drawing for "La Colonne Trajane"
François Boucher
18th century
Drawing for "La Colonne Trajane", François Boucher French, Red chalk
Drawing for "La Colonne Trajane"
François Boucher
18th century
Collection of Fountains (Receuil de Fontaines)
François Boucher
Chez Huquier
before 1736
Study of a peasant man and woman, from Livre d'Étude d'après les Desseins Originaux de Blomart Gravé Par Francois Boucher peintre De l'Academie Royale (Book of Studies after Original Designs by Blomart Engraved [Etched] by Francois Boucher painter of the Royal Academy), plate 10
François Boucher
Abraham Bloemaert
18th century

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