Formal Analysis
In this painting, the painter used oil paint to depict an ordinary scene in a countryside vineyard. The painter used oil as a medium on canvas, in which great details of the entire scene is clearly showed. The painting is relatively large, and the figures, having correct proportions, are slightly larger the real life size. There are three figures in the painting, an elder girl in the front, sitting and holding a basket of grapes. Behind the girl, there are also two boys, one boy in orange carrying stick with a fruit basket and one seems much younger, eating the grapes. None of the figure is looking directly to the viewer, as if they are immersed in their own world.
We immediately noticed the girl’s beauty and the elegant way in her movement. With the varied gestures and position, the children seem relaxed and comfortable rather than stiff and tense, creating a serene mood and a soft and light atmosphere. One could also emphasized on how pale and white the girl is, making the figure more precise and attractive. The light palette the painter used on the girl and the soft pastel color for the boy in orange also reveals a lively and fresh personality, in contrary to the cold color and dark brush employed on the boy in blue.
Moreover, we can see there is a connection between these three figures. On one hand, the painter grouped the body figures of the three children in a geometric shape of a pyramid, tilted, occupying half of the entire space, orienting the viewers and structures the painting as a whole. On the other hand, the direction of the eyes of children creates a unified composition with all the figures staring at the center, revealing the artistic technique and training underwent by the artist.
Through the employ and use of color, the painter showed the linear perspective as well as the illusion of space. The figure in the front has a much brighter, and warmer color, such as the light pink on the skin of her face, and the pure white for her cloth. As the field deepens, the color becomes darker and colder. In the background, the artist also creates a sense of fogginess as the sky becomes bluer and the green for trees become lighter.
Comprehensively, the painter also considered the three dimensionality of the body for these three figures. The outline of the figures is clear and distinguishable, whereas the change of color of the skin and the clothing demonstrates lights and shades. There are various shading with different level on the cloth of the children; even with the hair of the boy in orange, there is great detail and different portions of highlight and shadow.
The composition of the figures provokes an intimate yet distanced relationship between the three children. They seem to be interacting with each other in a polite and ingenious way. Overall, the figures, especially the girl in the front, establish certain irresistible charm and the artist demonstrated brilliant artistic skills.
Artist biography
François Boucher (29th September 1703–30th May 1770) is a French painter known for his Rococo style (a style that demonstrates lightness, colorfulness as well as grace and intimacy through art and various decoration). For many, Boucher is a “quintessential painter” in the 18th century France for both fine art as well as decorative arts. As a proliferate painter, he claimed to have finished over 10,000 drawing, 1,000 paintings and oil sketches in his career. His most famous paintings include Hercules and Omphale, c. 1730 (Moscow, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts) and Madame de Pompadour, c.1750 (Fogg Museum).
The son of Nicolar Boucher, a lace designer, 17 years old François Boucher was introduced to François Lemoyne and began his journey of art and design in 18th century France. While having the prestige of a historical painter of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1731, he later advanced to a faculty member, a professor and finally the Rector of the Academy. He was also the head of Royal Gobelin factory and became the First Painter of the King (Premier Peintre du Roi) in the year of 1765. Working for both the collectors and the market, his most important patrons includes King Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour (Louis XV’s mistress), supporting Boucher in making cartoons as well as setting in theatre and opera. In his maturity (1734–1764), he further experienced and worked using various medium and art, including cabinet pictures, tapestry design as well as pastoral paintings and porcelain design.
“Voluptuous mythologies and elegant pastorals” are two common subjects for Boucher’s paintings. His mythological theme has either a splendid appearance (typical artworkincludes — The Bath of Diana (1742; Paris, Louvre)) or erotic sense (as one could seen in The Rising of the Sun (1753; London, Wallace Coll.)). In other words, most of his artwork was much passionate compared with traditional style of epic. This theme of eroticism is best illustrated with his portraits of Marquise de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV. In later years, both of the names of François Boucher as well as Marquise de Pompadour became synonyms of the Rococo style. Jean-Antoine Watteau, Peter Paul Rubens and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione’s work as well as other 18th century Dutch pastoral landscapes are most likely influenced Boucher’s work of nature and landscape. The artist, redefining the genre of pastoral, reintroduced the concept of shepherds and shepherdesses.
Nevertheless, criticism from outside existed towards François Boucher. His subject was attacked for not been “morally uplifting” enough and not in a “dignified and temperate style”. Denis Diderot, a French philosopher and critic, regard Boucher’s painting as “immoralities” since under his conviction, painting must served to move viewers’ emotions in certain way.
Subject on The Grape Harvest
François Boucher finished Les vendages (The Grape Harvest) in 1756. The size of painting is 65 * 46 1/2 inches, currently presented in the Krannert Art Museum as a gift of Ellnora D. Krannert. The subject of the painting is not complicated. Boucher used oil paint on canvas, depicting three children sitting and standing under a tree harvesting grapes, surrounded by a vineyard. It is a typical portray of a idealized version of country life in the style of 18th century France.
One could noticed the clothing of the children in the front is so neat and the gesture is incredibly elegant and graceful; whereas third child has darker skin color and has sightly dirty clothing in the back. Thus, it is inferred that the painter wished to create a field of idealization of the idyllic and tranquil landscape rather than portraying the real life and the hard work of the farm, showing the culture of luxury and excess as a typical style of Rococo rather than a serious baroque painting.
Even though this painting is comparably much less seductive than work such as Hercules and Omphale, viewers could still detect a sense of licentious style from the girl in the front. The colors used are pastel-like, with curves to delineate the clothing of the figures, creating a sense of fluffiness. The sexuality of the girl is also been enlarged by the white yet soft dress as well as the exquisite gesture. As a indication of nobility and fashion, the pale smooth and the alabaster skin of the girl was considered the sign of beauty.
As purely decorative elements, the leaves in the background and color and details of the grapes are indication of the purpose of the painting — this piece of artwork could be served as a cartoon for parts of tapestry for decoration intention back in artist’s time. The abundance of fruit in the baskets emphasized the fecundity and the sensuality go the scene, disclosing one of the themes of Rococo paintings — luxury and wealth. The natural environment in the background further compliments the theme.
Other Related Painting by François Boucher
Another painting François Boucher finished that also typifies the pastoral idiom is The Love Letter, c.1750 (National Gallery of Art, Washington). This is a painting made six years prior than The Grape Harvest. Madame de Pompadour commissioned it, seeking of pleasant sensation for her chateau at Bellevue outside Paris as a portion of overdoes decoration. It is also referred as other names such as The Two Confidantes and The Lovers’ Secret Mail.
There are numerous similarities and differences comparing this work with The Grape Harvest. First of all, the subject matter and the theme is the same. They both depicts everyday life scene with ordinary people engaged in domestic activities. These shepherdesses, similar with the children in The Grape Harvest, are not realistic. However, while the figure in The Grape Harvest at least are harvesting grapes, the girls in The Love Letter are even more idealized who perform none of the labor work. Their dresses are incredibly beautiful: the delicate and porcelain skin, the satin dresses and even the casual yet perfect hair. They all embodied the elegance of aristocratic life at the time of Europe. Compare with the girl in The Grape Harvest, the fine silks of the girls in The Love Letter seems more rich, making the figures seem more delightful and exquisite. Chiaroscuro was used in the painting. Light from surrounding focuses all the attention of the viewers to the girls in the center of the painting.
In addition, as a typical Boucher’s Rococo painting, the women’s pink toes, functions the same as the gesture of the girl in The Grape Harvest, was an insinuation of the erotic promise and amorous love.
Another differences between The Love Letter and The Grape Harvest is the landscape and the background of the two paintings. The coloring in the surrounding area demonstrates the frivolity and the superficiality of the typical Boucher’s painting. Denis Diderot, the French critic, also commented on the subject and the genre of this painting: “Shall I never be rid of these damned pastorals?”
Other Paintings with Similar Subject Matter
Boucher’s early years, he was closely connected to Jean-Antoine Watteau. Watteau was also one of the three key figures of Rococo art (the other two includes François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard), focusing on idyllic scenes. This painting of Watteau’s also demonstrates one of the bucolic scenery. Compared with Boucher’s The Grape Harvest, it is not hard to distinguish some of the major differences between these two Rococo artists. One of his most famous paintings was Pilgrimage to Cythera, portraying a “fête galante” in which lovers are seeking love on the island of Cythera under the statue of goddess Venus. The subject and composition is certain new to the world, unlike case of The Grape Harvest, in Pilgrimage to Cythera the life of the aristocracy is showed directly with over twenty figures in just one painting. The gestures of the figure are much more diverse and more vivid in a sense.
In The Swing, Fragonard, employed a lighter palette — pink and lacy white for the women on the swing in the center of the painting. Also, through Fragonard’s brushwork, the personality of the woman is revealed whereas it is extremely hard to detect any emotions of the girl in The Grape Harvest.
Bibliography
- Stein, Perrin. “François Boucher (1703–1770).” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Accessed March 10, 2015. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bouc/hd_bouc.htm.
- Pain, Stephen. “French Rococo: Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard.” Escape In To Life. Accessed March 10, 2015. http://www.escapeintolife.com/essays/french-rococo-watteau-boucher-and-fragonard/.
- Alastair Laing. “Boucher, François.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 10, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T010423.
- “François Boucher Biography.” François Boucher. Accessed March 10, 2015. http://www.francoisboucher.org/biography.html.
- Osborne, Harold and Marc Jordan . “Diderot, Denis.” The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 10, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e734.
- Frampton, Margaret A., and Robert B. Smith. “Arts of Europe.” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. January 1, 2008. Accessed March 10, 2015. http://kam.illinois.edu/collection/europe/Boucher.html.
- Marx, Daniel. “The Love Letter by BOUCHER, François.” Web Gallery of Art. Accessed March 10, 2015. http://www.wga.hu/html_m/b/boucher/2/i_letter.html.
- “The Love Letter.” National Gallery of Art. Accessed March 10, 2015. https://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg54/gg54-46027.html
