Oil Painting, 'Air: Three Putti with Birds', after François Boucher, late 18th century-early 19th century

Three winged putti in a square composition; two petting a bird, another carrying a bird and flying away.

Bequeathed by John Jones

Bequeathed by John Jones, 1882
Ref : Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix-xx

John Jones (1800-1882) was first in business as a tailor and army clothier in London 1825, and opened a branch in Dublin 1840. Often visited Ireland, travelled to Europe and particularly France. He retired in 1850, but retained an interest in his firm. Lived quietly at 95 Piccadilly from 1865 to his death in January 1882. After the Marquess of Hertford and his son Sir Richard Wallace, Jones was the principal collector in Britain of French 18th century fine and decorative arts. Jones bequeathed an important collection of French 18th century furniture and porcelain to the V&A, and among the British watercolours and oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A are subjects which reflect his interest in France.

See also South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks. The Jones Collection. With Portrait and Woodcuts. Published for the Committee of Council on Education by Chapman and Hall, Limited, 11, Henrietta Street. 1884.
Chapter I. Mr. John Jones. pp.1-7.
Chapter II. No.95, Piccadilly. pp.8-44. This gives a room-by-room guide to the contents of John Jones' house at No.95, Piccadilly.
Chapter VI. ..... Pictures,... and other things, p.138, "The pictures which are included in the Jones bequest are, with scarcely a single exception, valuable and good; and many of them excellent works of the artists. Mr. Jones was well pleased if he could collect enough pictures to ornament the walls of his rooms, and which would do no discredit to the extraordinary furniture and other things with which his house was filled."

Historical significance: This painting is a copy after an oval composition, signed and dated 1741, and formerly in a private collection, New York and sold again at Sotheby's, New York, 23rd June 2003, lot 93 (it may correspond to the version that was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1954-55, No. 457) (See Ananoff and Wildentsetin, no. 183).
It depicts two naked putti petting a dove while a third putto is flying away with another bird. This composition is traditionally interpreted as an allegory of Air and was part of a cycle of four paintings representing the Elements, all four were engraved by Jean Daullé in 1748 (see The British Museum, London, 1866,0113.21 and The Victoria and Albert Museum, E.6917-1903). The print is inscribed with the following verses:
Jeunes Oiseaux, que la tendresse inspire,
Sortez de nos bois;
Unissez vos voix;
Chantez l'Amour; l'Air est votre empire.
According to the print, the original painting by Boucher belonged to Louis XV, King of France whereas the print was dedicated by Daullé to the Count of Bruhl.
Another copy of Air appeared on the Paris art market, 24-25 Sep. 1962 and again in 1971, 1976 and 1979.
The cycle is composed of allegories of the other three elements: Earth, Ivens collection, England, Water and Fire, both lost and known only through Daullé's engravings. The V&A also owns a copy of Fire (596-1882), which forms a pendant with 595-1882.
Compare with 595-1882, Daullé's engraving appears in reverse, which suggests that the V&A version was not made after the print but after the original painting.
These paintings from Boucher's early career anticipates somehow the pastoral imagery pervaded with putti, mythological figures, shepherds and shepherdesses in idyllic landscapes that would contribute to characterise the Rococo movement, of which Boucher became one of the greatest exponents.

Pastoral is a genre of painting whose subject is the idealized life of shepherds and shepherdesses set in an ideally beautiful and idyllic landscape. These scenes are reminiscent of the Arcadia, the Antique Golden Age that the Roman author Virgil (1St BC) described in the Eclogues and were at the time illustrated on the Roman wall paintings. The pastoral was reborn during the Renaissance, especially in Venice, in the oeuvre of such painters as Titian (ca. 1488-1576) and Giorgione (1477-1510), and gradually evolved over the centuries. In the 17th century in fact, the Arcadian themes were illustrated in the Roman school led by the painter Claude Lorrain (1604-1682) whereas a century later, Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and his followers forged the new genre of fêtes galantes, which appears as a derivation of the pastoral. The pastoral became the hallmark of the Rococo movement in which François Boucher's (1703-1770) elegant eroticism found his true expression. This tradition, which had became an illustration of the carefree aristocratic world, died with the French revolution and was never revived although the celebration of the timeless Mediterranean world in the oeuvre of such painter as Henri Matisse (1869-1954) may be seen as a continuing interest for the theme.

François Boucher (1703-1770) was born in Paris and probably received his first artistic training from his father who was a painter before attending the Académie de France in Rome. He may also have travelled to Naples, Venice and Bologna. Around 1731 Boucher returned to Paris where he rapidly gained the royal favour and interest from private collectors. He was a very prolific artist and produced a wide range of artworks from pastoral paintings, porcelain and tapestry designs as well as stage designs influencing deeply the new Rococo movement.

This painting is a copy after a composition signed and dated by Boucher in 1741. It depicts the allegory of Air and originally belongs to a series of four paintings depicting the Elements. 595-1882 forms a pendant with another copy after Boucher's Allegory of Fire (596-1882). This work is a fine example of the early career of Boucher, who already pervaded his oeuvre with mischievous pastoral scenes which would become the hallmark of his art and eventually of the whole rococo period.

595-1882