Le Galant Pecheur

François Boucher 1703 - 1770

Summary

In this fine late landscape by Boucher, a young man fishes in the river, watched by a young woman and a girl. A thatched cottage nestles in the woods on the opposite bank, while on the left there is a rustic tower in a picturesque state of dilapidation. A shepherd driving a cow and several sheep makes his way along the opposite bank - a motif derived from Dutch 17th century pastoral landscapes. The subject and its treatment are light-hearted and deliberately contrived. These are contented peasants amid charming rural dwellings, enhanced by a delicate palette of blues and greens. During the reign of Louis XV, Boucher was Director of the French Academy and Premier peintre du roi, as well as a friend and protégé of Mme de Pompadour. His work typifies the French Rococco, the style of choice of the sophisticated urban and courtly society of mid-18th-century Paris. Many of his paintings were intended as decorative schemes and he also designed tapestries for the theatre.