Venus Consoling Love

Venus Consoling Love
Artist François Boucher
Year 1751
Medium oil on canvas
Location National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Venus Consoling Love is a painting by François Boucher, from 1751.[1][2][3][4] The painting depicts a mythological scene, where Venus, the goddess of Love, depicted as a young, charming and supple young woman is impersonating the French Rococo's beauty ideals. She is about to disarm Cupid, by taking away his arrows, that he uses when shooting at people to make them fall in love.

"In Enlightenment France the dedicated search to define truth engendered a re–evaluation of the natural. The belief that it was right to follow nature, and that the pursuit of pleasure was natural, influenced the prevailing conception of the nude ...[5]

Venus sits beside the pond with doves, the goddess symbol. The white doves at her feet, her complexion, the pearls in her hair are just as luxurious like the silk draperies that were wrapped around her, but now are lying on the ground. Boucher painted the artwork with soft pastel tones using a dim silvery light. The painting was made with high technical skill. The principal charm of Rococo art is its sensuality and seductivity.[6]

History

The painting belonged to Mme de Pompadour, the French king's mistress, dislplayed at Château de Bellevue, who commissioned it, and it was Madame de Pompadour who allegedly posed for the painting. Artists liked to work for her not only for the prestige of working for the aristocracy, but also because she paid her bills regularly. It has even been suggested that Boucher's young wife was the young woman posing for the figure of Venus, but it is more a soft and appealing essence of feminine beauty, that appears in front of us in the figure of the Venus painted by the French artist Boucher.[2][3][5][7]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "The Bath of Venus". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Overview". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Artwork of the Day: Francois Boucher's "Venus Consoling Love". www.quailhollow365.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  4. ↑ [Boucher's success in communicating the charm and sensuality of the nude lies in his mastery of color and fluid brushstrokes ... The painting exemplifies the rococo love of asymmetric lines and sinuous curves, artfully arranged to seduce both the eye and the mind of the beholder."]
  5. 1 2 "The Bath of Venus". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  6. ↑ The National Gallery of Art, New York: Harrison House/Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1979
  7. ↑ Beckett (1994), p. 128

Bibliography

  • Beckett, Wendy (1994), The Story of Painting, The Essential Guide to the History of Western Art, Dorling Kidersley, ISBN 978-0751301335 

External video from Smarthistory

External video
Boucher's Venus Consoling Love at Smarthistory
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