A Study for Two Nymphs

Prints and Drawings

c. 1749

François Boucher
French, 1703-1770

“I have seen enough of bosoms and buttocks,” wrote the French philosopher and critic Denis Diderot (1713–1784), discussing the paintings of François Boucher.

What Diderot and others considered Boucher’s decadent frivolity was associated with the excesses and corruption of the monarchy (Boucher was named first painter to the king in 1765). In other words, Boucher’s work was seen as embodying, in aesthetic form, everything that led to the French Revolution. His style was rejected by the next generation of artists in France in favor of a simpler, more honest style inspired by ancient Rome and Greece.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: François Boucher
Title: A Study for Two Nymphs
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1744–1754
Medium: Black chalk, with stumping and red chalk, heightened with white chalk, on buff laid paper, laid down on cream laid card
Dimensions: 32.1 × 45 cm (12 11/16 × 17 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Helen Regenstein Collection
Reference Number: 1967.231
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/27318/manifest.json

André Michel, François Boucher (Paris, 1906), no. 82.
Société de Reproduction de Dessins de Maîtres (Paris, 1913), no. 3 (ill.).
Gabriel Henriot, “La Collection David Weill,” L’Amour de l’Art 6 (January 1925), pp. 1-23.
Gabriel Henriot, La Collection David-Weill, 3 (1928), pp. 29-31 (ill.).
B. Lossky, “L’Apollon et Isse dans l’oeuvre de François Boucher,” Gazette de Beaux-Arts (November 1954), pp. 237-242 (ill.).
Harold Joachim, French Drawings and Sketchbooks of the 18th Century (Chicago, 1977), no. 1A11.

New York, Wildenstein & Co., “French 18th Century Pastels, Watercolors, and Drawings from the David-Weill Collection,” November-December 1938, cat. 53.
New York, Slatkin Gallery, “François Boucher: an exhibition of prints and drawings,” January 28-February 23, 1957, no. 66.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1964.
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, “François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings,” December 22, 1973-March 15, 1974, cat. 66; also traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, April 1-May 20, 1974.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “The Helen Regenstein Collection of European Drawings,” 1974, pp. 70-71, cat. 34 (ill.), cat. by Harold Joachim.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Selected Works of 18th Century French Art in the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago,” January 24-March 28, 1976, pp. 54-55, cat. 43 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Great Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago: The Harold Joachim Years 1958-1983,” July 24-September 30, 1985, pp. 96-97, cat. 40 (ill.), cat. by Martha Tedeschi; traveled to The St. Louis Art Museum, March 10-May 16, 1986. (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Gods and (Super)heroes: Drawing in an Age of Revolution”, November 16, 2017 - April 1, 2018.

David-Weill (died 1952), Paris, from 1913-at least 1938 [according to Henriot 1925 and Société de Reproduction de Dessins de Maítres 1913; New York 1938]. Georges Wildenstein (died 1963), by 1954 [according to Lossky 1954]. John Goelet (?) [according to invoice in curatorial file]. Barbara Hutton (died 1977) [according to invoice]. Sold, Sotheby’s, London, July 8, 1964, “Important Master Drawings,” lot 89, to Mrs. Slatkin; sold by Charles E. Slatkin Gallery, New York, to the Art Institute, 1967.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.