# Allegory of Painting **François Boucher** (French, 1703–1770) 1765 oil on canvas overall: 101.5 x 130 cm (39 15/16 x 51 3/16 in.) framed: 129.5 x 157.5 cm (51 x 62 in.) Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1946.7.1. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.32679.html). ## About this work A young woman reclining on clouds draws a putto from life with a holder carrying white and black chalk, while her model, holding a torch and resting beside a quiver of arrows, eyes her from under his brows, like Cupid sitting for his portrait. Another putto peeks around the canvas and a third holds a laurel wreath over her hand, crowning the art of painting. A palette and brushes lie at her side. Boucher, who became first painter to Louis XV in 1765, signed and dated it that year; it shares its format and cloud-borne setting with his Allegory of Music. _Written by Ochre Editions._ François Boucher painted this in 1765, aged 62. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. ### What you’re looking at A young woman draws on an oval surface with white chalk while three winged, baby-like putti gather nearby, all on a bank of pale pink clouds in this horizontal painting. The woman and putti have pale, rosy skin, flushed cheeks, and hazel-brown eyes. To our left, the woman reclines with her upper body propped up on her far elbow, which rests on a steel-blue cushion as her legs stretch out to our right. Her light brown hair is braided and wrapped across the top of her head. She wears a loose, seafoam-green robe over a billowing ivory-white garment that has slipped off the shoulder closer to us. A round paint palette with brushes sticking out of its thumb hole and a roll of blue and white paper sit in the lower left corner, behind the woman. The woman and the objects are on a red cloth. In front of the woman is a rounded surface, perhaps a canvas, on which she draws. She holds up a gold-colored stylus with her right hand, closer to us, with a pointed piece of white chalk in one end and black chalk in the other. The canvas is taller than her head, so the child-like putto she draws on it is life-sized. The three nude putti on the far side of the canvas have copper or golden-blond, curly hair, flushed, rounded cheeks, short wings in white or peacock blue, pudgy torsos, and dimpled limbs. One putto, presumably the one the woman draws, sits back on the bank of clouds with a carnation-pink sash across his chest. He pulls his chin back and looks at her from under his eyebrows. He holds a gold-colored torch with a pink flame in one hand, and the other hand rests near a cylindrical quiver of arrows. Another putto peeks around the side of the canvas, and the third stands and props the canvas up. That third putto holds up a wreath of laurel leaves up over the canvas, above the woman’s drawing hand. The bank of clouds is parchment-brown with muted pink and blue highlights against a vivid blue sky. The artist signed and dated the lower right, “F Boucher – 1765.” _Description from the National Gallery of Art._ ### How it was made - **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled. ### [François Boucher](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/francois-boucher) French, 1703–1770; born in Paris; died in Paris Boucher trained with François Lemoyne, won the Prix de Rome and spent several years in Italy before rising to become First Painter to Louis XV. Madame de Pompadour was his most important patron. He worked at every scale, from mythological canvases full of rosy nudes and cupids to designs for the Beauvais and Gobelins tapestry factories, porcelain and the opera. His light, decorative manner came to define the French Rococo. _Written by Ochre Editions._ ## Facts - Type: Painting - The artist was 62 - Real size: about 40 × 51 in (102 × 130 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 24 × 36 in, so every print is a reduction. - Century: 18th century - Subjects: arts and sciences, Painting - Colour: brown - Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose. ## Get it - Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1475.jpg?dl=1 - Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1475/1920.jpg - Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108 - Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258 - Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148 - Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5 Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/allegory-of-painting-nga-32679).