Studio of François Boucher Paris 1703 - 1770

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, May 19, 1995, lot 104 (as Attributed to Boucher).

This painting repeats a work by Boucher of circa 1734, with some differences, presently with Wildenstein & Co., Inc. (see The Arts of France from François 1er to Napoléon 1er, exhibition catalogue, New York 2005, cat. no. 62, reproduced).  That painting was engraved twice in the 18th century; by Michel Aubert (in reverse) and by Nicolas Dufour (in the same direction).  The present painting lacks the figure of Amor asleep with his head on Venus' stomach seen in the original and evident in both engravings (but it does retain evidence of his presence in the quiver filled with arrows found amongst the rumpled sheets).