Oil painting, 'Bacchantes', After François Boucher, late 18th century-early 19th century

Two seated female figures in a sunny landscape: one playing a pipe and the other a tambourine with a small dog on the left and silverwares with grapes on the right.

The Lady Bettine Abingdon Collection. Bequeathed by Mrs T. R. P. Hole

The Bettine, Lady Abingdon Collection, bequeathed by Mrs T. R. P. Hole, 1987

Historical significance: This painting is a copy after an over door that Boucher executed for the Marquise of Pompadour, currently preserved in the M.H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. The original painting originally belonged to an ensemble of five oval canvases, of which the M.H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, owns another exemplary entitled Companions of Diana. The other three paintings are: The Love Letter, Private collection, New York, Flora, Private collection, London, and Pomona, Private collection, London. All five paintings are signed and dated from ca. 1745.
The cycle evokes mythological scenes without a precise meaning set in idyllic landscapes where half naked voluptuous women enjoy themselves. P.28-1987 represents two half naked women, sitting in a landscape and playing musical instruments while grapes and silverwares lay at their feet. The association between music and grapes alludes to a bacchanal, a celebration in honour of the god Bacchus that recurs in such subject matter as the pastoral. P.28-1987 had been trimmed at the top and was probably integrated in an architectural setting, perhaps as an over door as well. The copyist made minor variations with the original such as the addition of a dog on the left hand side
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 characterised 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 the 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 with minor variations after a composition Boucher executed for the apartments of Marquise of Pompadour ca. 1745. It represents two nymphs, perhaps two bacchantes, playing musical instruments in an idyllic landscape. 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.

P.28-1987