François Boucher

Private collection, France;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Hôtel de Bullion, 1 June 1787, lot 81;
M. Ferlet, Paris;
His sale, Paris, Hôtel de Bullion, 18 April 1792, lot 83 (to Meunier);
Louis Gabriel Suchet, 1st duc d'Albufera (1770-1826);
S. de Lacqui, Paris;
Luigi Rochetti, Rome;
Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 26 June 1959, lot 52, for 4,500 guineas to Marenzie;
Mr. Harsch, Geneva, by 1968 (see under Exhibited below).

London, Heim Gallery, French Paintings and Sculptures of the 18th Century, 10 January - 15 March 1968, nos. 15 and 16, reproduced (lent by a Mr Harsch, Geneva).

G. Reitlinger, The Economics of Taste: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices, 1760-1960, London 1961, p. 258;
French Paintings and Sculptures of the 18th Century, exhibition catalogue, London, Heim Gallery, 10 January - 15 March 1968, cat, nos. 15 and 16, reproduced;
A. Ananoff, François Boucher, Paris 1976, vol. II, p. 324.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. Francois Boucher. Two Grisailles Studies for Fountains. These two paintings have wax and resin linings, presumably from the 60’s. The present restoration is probably also from that period. Originally both paintings had arches around the central fountains, and light almost monochrome backgrounds, probably slightly shaded from right to left and without extended rocks to each side at the base. The original fountains have scarcely been touched and are both in good virtually intact condition. For some reason the surrounding backgrounds in both have been broadly repainted apparently quiet superficially, brushing out the arches and adding dark rocks to each side in the foreground. There are a few darker old retouchings, particularly in the background of the river god facing to the left, presumably of small knocks or of one or two marks down the stretcher bar lines, but these are from minor incidents, with a few small old retouchings at the edges and occasionally in the original rocks. The same darker old retouching was evidently used to strengthen possible slight wear in the outer background. However in general the background appears very largely undamaged and the broad brush repaint seems to have been gratuitous. The inner original grisailles fountains have vivid, largely unworn intact brushwork. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

We are grateful to Alastair Laing for endorsing the attribution to François Boucher on the basis of photographs and for suggesting that these grisaille canvases were intended as designs for table decorations or chimneypiece sculptures to be executed in terracotta, ormolu, and enamel.

In their earliest provenance, the 1787 sale catalogue, this pair was listed as "deux projets de fontaine en grisaille. Toile. Haut. 34 pouces; Larg. 26".¹ It is however highly unlikely that these two paintings were intended as actual studies for proposed fountain schemes. They differ significantly from other known Boucher fountain designs published by Huquier in Recueil de Fontaines Inventées, engraved by Huquier for the first series and by Paul Avelin for the second series.²  These fountain designs share a similar compositional structure with the present pair in their triangular shape based around a central figure group stabilised by rocaille bases with putti, foliage and other decoration towards the top, but they are on a much smaller scale. Furthermore in his fountain studies Boucher carefully depicts the path of the water flow through the composition; the water begins at the top and passes down through the designs to splash out into fountain pools. By contrast the water in the present paintings is static; it springs from the jars in the lower half of the compositions and ends abruptly with nowhere to go.  Boucher has also depicted decorative gilding and colouring in the upper half of the present pair which is very delicate and would not have been practical for - or survived long on - an active fountain, whether intended for external or internal use.

François Boucher's close relationship with the decorative arts in 18th-century France is well documented.  His paintings, sketches and etchings were used as designs for tapestries for the Beauvais and Gobelins factories, Sèvres and Vincennes porcelain,³ trompe l'oeil wall decoration and stage designs for the Académie Royale de Musique and the Théâtre de la Foire.  It is within the context of Boucher's designs for decorative work that this present pair is situated and it is rare to find an example as highly finished and carefully painted, although the circumstances of their commission are not known. When the pair were last sold at Christie's they were accompanied by certificates of attribution from J. Mathey and Pierre Lamy and identified as the Rhône and the Rhine rivers. When they were exhibited ten years later at the Heim Gallery they were catalogued as a pair of river allegories because there are no defining features in either canvas to support their identification as the Rhône and Rhine rivers.

1. Paris, Hôtel de Bullion, 1 June 1787, lot 81.
2. P. Jean-Richard, L'Oeuvre gravé de F. Boucher, Paris 1978, nos. 1090-1097, and 216-222.
3. For other examples of Boucher's designs for porcelain figurines see A. Ananoff, under Literature, vol. I, pp. 336-7, no. 222/16, vol. II, p. 7, no. 311/2, p. 33, no. 336/4.