COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
TFC_.Boucher.16-1-15
AMICA Library Year:
1999
Object Type:
Paintings
Creator Name:
Boucher, François
Creator Nationality:
European; French
Creator Dates/Places:
1703-1770
Creator Name-CRT:
François Boucher
Title:
The Four Seasons (Part 4: Winter)
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
1755
Creation Start Date:
1755
Creation End Date:
1755
Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas (lined)
Subject Terms:
Allegory-Seasons
Dimensions:
22 3/8 x 28 3/4 in. (56.8 x 73 cm.)
AMICA Contributor:
The Frick Collection
Owner Location:
New York, New York, USA
ID Number:
16.1.15
Credit Line:
Purchased
Inscriptions:
Signed and dated on the log at the lower right:
Context:
Jean Daullé's engravings after The Four Seasons identify the owner of the paintings as Madame de Pompadour. The four canvases probably were designed as overdoors for one of the Marquise s many residences, but it is not known which one. Boucher's shield-shaped compositions, of which three are dated 1755, were later extended by another hand onto rectangular canvases; the present curvilinear templates expose only the original body of each. In these representations of the age-old subject of the Four Seasons,Boucher broke with the tradition of depicting the labors performed at various times of the year, characteristically choosing to illustrate pleasant pastimes instead. The amorous subjects of Spring and Autumn, described as pastorales in the sale catalogueof the collection of the Marquis de Marigny (Madame de Pompadour s younger brother and heir), recall the fêtes galantes invented engraved in his youth, but the backgrounds of all of the Seasons, especially the frosted one of Winter, reveal Boucher s particular skills as a landscapist. The bathers of Summer depend from a far older pictorial tradition that would subsequently be continued by Renoir, Cézanne, and Picasso.
Related Document Description:
New York, The Frick Collection. Art in the Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts [cat.]. Comps. C. Ryskamp, et al., 1996, p. 81. New York, The Frick Collection. An Illustrated Catalogue. Vol.2, Paintings. [cat.]. 1968, pp.28-32, p.31 (reproduced).
Related Image Identifier Link:
TFC_.boucher.16-1-15.tif
The Four Seasons (Part 4: Winter)
