Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010958About the Artwork
In this early chalk drawing, François Boucher combined plants, dolphins, rocks, shells, and tritons (mythological creatures that are part man and part fish) into a design that was meant to suggest a fountain in a rocky garden grotto. This sheet represents l'art rocaille, or "rock and shell art," a style of ornament that developed in France during the 1730s and featured decorative compositions with abundant detail. The image was one of seven that the printmaker Gabriel Huquier translated as etchings around the time Boucher completed them. These reproductions helped to bring Boucher's work to a broader audience, including other artists who emulated his style.
Inscriptions
lower left, in brown ink: Boucher; secondary support, in graphite: [195?]; verso of secondary support, upper center, in brown ink: M / No. 53; center, in graphite: B / [illegible]
Provenance
?-1771?: Possibly Gabriel Huquier [1695-1772], Paris 1771: (his sale, Paris, Tableaux, Gouaches, Desseins...du Cabinet de M. ***, 1771, no. 89) 1856: (possibly sale, Paris, Tableaux...composant le cabinet de M. Rochaz, February 11, 1856, no. 3) ?-1883: Probably M. Marmontel 1883: (Hotel Drouot, Paris, Aquarelles et Dessins...composant la collection de M. Marmontel, January 25-26, 1883, no. 44) after 1883-1896: Possibly "M[onsieur] S." 1896: (Hotel Drouot, Paris, Dessins Anciens et Modernes...Appartenant à M. S..., June 1, 1896, no. 2) ?-?: Franz Lederer [1899-2000], Palm Springs, CA ?-1952: (Erich Lederer, Geneva, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 1952-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960). The Eighteenth Century: One Hundred Drawings by One Hundred Artists. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (January 24-March 7, 1961). French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (September 2-October 15, 1972); Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (September 2-October 15, 1972); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.,, Canada (November 3-December 17, 1972); The New York Cultural Center, New York, NY (April 4-May 13, 1973). François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (December 23, 1973-March 15, 1974); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (April 1-May 20, 1974). 18th Century Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 6-November 22, 1981). François Boucher. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (April 24-June 23, 1982). National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983). Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-May 17, 1987). Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988). Rococo, Revolution, Restoration. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989). French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016). Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- François Boucher (French, 1703–1770)
- Date
- c. 1736
- Medium
- Black chalk with stumping, and red chalk, heightened with white chalk on beige laid paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 37.7 x 22.2 cm (14 13/16 x 8 3/4 in.); Secondary Support: 39.6 x 24.2 cm (15 9/16 x 9 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1952.529
More by François Boucher in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010958
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