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Two fair-skinned people recline near the center surrounded by male and female figures and cherubs in an oval-shaped drawing.

The woman and man sit leaning back looking to the center wearing robes with two playful babies or cherubs between them. Light comes from the top, and the figures appear to be seated in clouds. On the left another reclining couple look to the center, the woman holds the man’s arm. Two swans are lightly drawn between the two couples. Another man leans on his right elbow with his back to us, his face resting on his bent right arm.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2018.378
People
François Boucher, French (Paris 1703 - 1770 Paris)
Title
Venus Presenting Aeneas to Jupiter and Juno
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1746-47
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/363026

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown ink, brown wash, and white gouache over black chalk on tan antique laid paper, partial framing lines in black and brown ink, laid down
Dimensions
21.4 × 30.5 cm (8 7/16 × 12 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Possibly Claude-Henri Watelet, Paris, possibly sold [through his sale, Paillet-Hayot de Longpré, Paris, June 12, 1786, part of lot 167]. Charles-Robert Boutin de La Coulommière, Paris and Berchères-sur-Vesgre (1722-AnIV). Private Collection, Paris. Sold [New York, January 21, 2003, lot 91]. [Galerie Éric Coatalem, Paris, circa 2003]. Jeffrey E. Horvitz, Boston, 2003, gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2018

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Jeffrey Horvitz in honor of Alvin L. Clark, Jr.
Accession Year
2018
Object Number
2018.378
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Oeuvres sur papier, auct. cat., Galerie Eric Coatalem (Paris, 2003), pp. 22-23, repr.
  • Old Master Drawings, auct. cat., Sotheby's, New York (January 21, 2003), lot 91, repr.
  • Alastair Laing, The Drawings of François Boucher, exh. cat., American Federation of Arts and Scala Publishers Ltd. (New York, 2003), cat. no. 73, pp. 192-93, 241, 250, repr. p. 192
  • Françoise Joulie, Esquisses, pastels et dessins de François Boucher dans les collections privées, Somogy Éditions d'Art and Musee Lambinet (Paris and Versailles, 2004), cat. no. 42, pp. 94-95, repr.
  • Sonia Couturier, "L'implication des amateurs d'art dans les réseaux artistiques et intellectuels en France au XVIIIe siècle: le cas de Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786)" (2008), Université Concordia, Montreal, p. 72 and 223, no. 167
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Esther Bell, and Françoise Joulie, Genius & Grace: François Boucher and the Generation of 1700, exh. cat., ed. Alvin L. Clark, Jr., The Horvitz Collection (Boston, 2014), cat. no. 23, pp. 20, 132, repr. p. 102, plate 58, and frontispiece
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr. and Edouard Kopp, French Drawings from the Age of Claude, Poussin, Watteau, and Fragonard: Highlights from the Collection of the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2022), cat. no. 63, repr.

Exhibition History

  • The Drawings of François Boucher, The Frick Collection, 10/08/2003 - 12/14/2003; Kimbell Art Museum, 01/18/2004 - 04/18/2003
  • Esquisses, pastels et dessins de François Boucher dans les collections privées, Musee Lambinet, 10/12/2004 - 01/09/2005
  • Genius & Grace: François Boucher and the Generation of 1700, Cincinnati Art Museum, 02/14/2014 - 05/11/2014; Ackland Art Museum, 01/23/2015 - 04/05/2015

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu