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Nov 14, 2012

Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells

c. 1736

François Boucher

(French, 1703–1770)

France, 18th century

Black and white chalks with stumping and red chalk on beige laid paper

Support: Beige(1) laid paper, laid down on beige laid paper

Sheet: 37.7 x 22.2 cm (14 13/16 x 8 3/4 in.); Secondary Support: 39.6 x 24.2 cm (15 9/16 x 9 1/2 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1952.529

Catalogue raisonné: Michel 2554?; Ananoff 968?

Location

not on view

Did you know?

While translating this drawing into etching, the printmaker Gabriel Huquier replaced Boucher's grotto setting with an architectural niche.

Description

In this early chalk drawing, François Boucher combined plants, dolphins, rocks, shells, and tritons (mythological creatures that are part man and part fish) into a design that was meant to suggest a fountain in a rocky garden grotto. This sheet represents l'art rocaille, or "rock and shell art," a style of ornament that developed in France during the 1730s and featured decorative compositions with abundant detail. The image was one of seven that the printmaker Gabriel Huquier translated as etchings around the time Boucher completed them. These reproductions helped to bring Boucher's work to a broader audience, including other artists who emulated his style.

Artist biography

François Boucher

French Rococo artist who epitomizes the frivolous and elegant court life of France in the mid-18th century. During his early career he was closely associated with Watteau, many of whose paintings he engraved. Boucher was a successful and incredibly prolific artistic who had a major impact on both fine and decorative art of the 18th century. He is particularly noted for having reinvented the genre of the pastoral, creating images of shepherds and shepherdesses as sentimental lovers that was taken up in a variety of medium. Boucher's sketchy manner of painting helped to promote painterliness as an end in itself. This trend dominated French painting until the emergence of Neoclassicism, when the tides of criticism turned against Boucher and his followers.

Inscriptions

Inscription

lower left, in brown ink: Boucher; secondary support, in graphite: [195?]; verso of secondary support, upper center, in brown ink: M / No. 53; center, in graphite: B / [illegible]

Provenance

?-1771?

Possibly Gabriel Huquier [1695-1772], Paris

1771

(his sale, Paris, Tableaux, Gouaches, Desseins...du Cabinet de M. ***, 1771, no. 89) ¹

1856

(possibly sale, Paris, Tableaux...composant le cabinet de M. Rochaz, February 11, 1856, no. 3) ²

?-1883

Probably M. Marmontel

1883

(Hotel Drouot, Paris, Aquarelles et Dessins...composant la collection de M. Marmontel, January 25-26, 1883, no. 44) ³

after 1883-1896

Possibly "M[onsieur] S."

1896

(Hotel Drouot, Paris, Dessins Anciens et Modernes...Appartenant à M. S..., June 1, 1896, no. 2)

?-?

Franz Lederer [1899-2000], Palm Springs, CA

?-1952

(Erich Lederer, Geneva, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)

1952-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

¹As "Quatorze desseins de fontaines, cartouches &c. par Boucher"

²A group of four drawings described as fountain designs by Boucher in "encre de Chine, exécutés à la plume et teintés de couleur" are listed under lot 3 in this sale. The composition of the Cleveland drawing is clearly described ("Dans le second, ce sont des dauphins qui soutiennent dans une vasque des tritons qui lancent de l'eau par leurs conques"). However, the disparity of media suggests the Rochaz work was possibly a copy after the Huquier print. The description of it as "tinted with color" does not suggest a drawing by Boucher.

³As "Projet de fontaine. Crayon. Haut., 35 cent., larg.; 22 cent."

Citations

Michel, André. François Boucher. Paris: L'Édition d'Art, H. Piazza et Cie, 1906. Mentioned: p. 141, no. 2554

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April - June 1953." Art Quarterly 16, no. 4 (Winter 1953): 346-365. Mentioned: p. 353

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 594 archive.org

In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned: no. 117

Thomas, Hylton. The Eighteenth Century: One Hundred Drawings by One Hundred Artists. Exh. Cat. Minneapolis: University of Minnesoty, 1961. Mentioned: p. 18, no. 6; Reproduced: plate I

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 135 archive.org

Ananoff, Alexandre. L'Oeuvre dessiné de François Boucher (1703-1770): catalogue raisonné. Paris: F. de Nobele, 1966 Mentioned: no. 968?

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 135 archive.org

Rosenberg, Pierre. French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Exh. Cat. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1972. Mentioned: pp. 136-137, no. 12; Reproduced: plate 85

Slatkin, Regina Shoolman. François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings. Exh. Cat. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1973. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 38, no. 29

Ananoff, Alexandre. François Boucher. Lausanne: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1976. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 11

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 177 archive.org

Jean-Richard, Pierrette. L'Oeuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild. Paris: Éditions des Musées Nationaux, 1978. Mentioned: p. 274, under no. 1096

Sutton, Denys. François Boucher. Exh. Cat. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1982. Mentioned: pp. 189, 245, no. 83; Reproduced: p. 113

DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: p. 8, pp. 100-101, 288, no. 36; Reproduced: p. 101

Prat, Louis-Antoine. Le dessin français au XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Louvre éditions: Somogy, 2017. Reproduced: p. 174, no. 293

Exhibition history

Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960).

The Eighteenth Century: One Hundred Drawings by One Hundred Artists. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (January 24-March 7, 1961).

French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (September 2-October 15, 1972); Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (September 2-October 15, 1972); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.,, Canada (November 3-December 17, 1972); The New York Cultural Center, New York, NY (April 4-May 13, 1973).

François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (December 23, 1973-March 15, 1974); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (April 1-May 20, 1974).

18th Century Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 6-November 22, 1981).

François Boucher. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (April 24-June 23, 1982).

National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983).

Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-May 17, 1987).

Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988).

Rococo, Revolution, Restoration. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989).

French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).

Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.529|author=François Boucher|year=c. 1736|access-date=27 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells

Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells

François Boucher

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Description

François Boucher

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Provenance Footnotes

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