Oil painting, 'Allegory of Fire', After François Boucher, late 18th century-early 19th century

Three winged putti; one carrying hearts and flowers in a drapery, another holding a torch, the last one about to shoot an arrow

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 a lost composition, oval in format and currently known through the engraving made by Jean Daullé in 1748 (see The British Museum, London, 1866,0113.21 and The Victoria and Albert Museum, E.6918-1903).
It depicts three naked putti: one carrying hearts and flowers in a drapery, another holding a torch, the last one about to shoot an arrow. This composition is traditionally interpreted as an allegory of Fire and was part of a cycle of four paintings representing the Elements, all four were engraved by Jean Daullé in 1748. The print is inscribed with the following verses:
Sur le front de l'Amour
Brille une flamme pure
Aimons : c'est l'oeil du jour,
Le Feu de la Nature.
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.
The cycle is composed of allegories of the other three elements: Earth, Ivens collection, England, Water, lost and known only through Daullé's engraving, and Air, formerly in a private collection, New York and sold again at Sotheby's, New York, 23rd June 2003, lot 93. The V&A also owns a copy of Air (595-1882), which forms a pendant with the present painting.
Compare with the V&A copy, 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 but now lost. It depicts the allegory of Fire and originally belongs to a cycle of four paintings representing the Elements. The V&A also owns a copy of Air (595-1882) which forms a pendant with the present painting.
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.

596-1882