Stehender Mädchenakt

Through the charming elegance and gracious composition of chivalrous themes, Boucher became the most illustrious interpreter of French Rococo art during the reign of Louis XV. His great gift for decoration suited the contemporary taste for splendid outward appearances. His versatile talent extended not only to mythology, religious and erotic themes, and genre painting, but also to interior and theater decoration, designs for a vast spectrum of applied arts such as tapestries, porcelain, and furniture. Furthermore, Boucher was a much sought-after portrait painter who became famous above all for his portraits of his art-loving patron, the Marquise de Pompadour. Alongside his prolific painterly oeuvre is the large number of equally important drawings that, next to the obligatory preparatory studies, were increasingly made as independent works of art.

Boucher’s female nude figures, usually disguised as Venus, Diana, or a nymph, were especially popular among contemporary collectors. One example of these is the Standing Nude Girl that represents a type of girl frequently found in different postures in Boucher’s work.

The Three Geniuses are drawn on tinted paper with black, red, and white chalk, the “trois-crayons” (three chalks) technique of which Boucher was a supreme master, and which was particularly fashionable in the eighteenth century for its subtle color effects. The sheet is one of the preparatory studies for the oil painting, The Rape of Europe, in the Louvre: the group of the three amoretti was transferred almost completely unchanged to the painting, and only the drapery of the drawing was replaced by a decorative garland of flowers that better suited the theme.