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Francois Boucher

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Artist

The Resume

    (September 29, 1703-May 30, 1770)
    Born in Paris, France
    Rococo painter known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and pastoral themes
    Awarded Grand Prix de Rome (1720)
    Admitted into the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (November 24, 1731)
    Paintings include 'The Breakfast' (1739), 'The Triumph of Venus' (1740), 'La Toilette' (1742), 'Arion on the Dolphin' (1748), 'The Toilet of Venus' (1751), 'Venus Consoling Love' (1751), 'Madame de Pompadour' (1756), 'The Dovecote' (1758), 'Diana and Callisto' (1759), and 'St. Peter Attempting to Walk on Water' (1766)
    First Painter of the King (1765-1770)
    Died in Paris

Why he might be annoying:

    He once said that nature is 'too green and badly lit'.
    During his trip to trip to Rome as part of a scholarship he won, he found the Italian schools of painting unsuited to his tastes.
    Denis Diderot accused him of 'prostituting his own wife' for the Odalisque portraits.
    Moreover, Diderot lambasted his lighthearted subject matter and fluid, coloristic style as 'frivolous' and 'morally corrupt'.
    His artwork lost popularity later in his life, when Neoclassicism replaced Rococo as the most popular art form of the time.
    The Rococo style, which he embodied, was often associated with the excess of the French court while most French citizens lived in poverty.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His art style was the hallmark of Louis XV's court throughout the 1740s and '50s.
    The Goncourt brothers wrote that 'he was one of the men who represented the taste of a century, who express, personify and embody it'.
    His artwork foregoes traditional rural innocence and depicts mythological scenes as passionate and intimately amorous rather than traditionally epic.
    He was aware of the commercial potential of selling artwork, which he used to become highly successful.
    Aside from painting, he also designed tapestries, theater costumes and sets, and etchings.
    His son Juste died at a young age.

Credit: Big Lenny


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 33 Votes: 48.48% Annoying