Portrait of François Boucher

This elegant pastel reproduces the likeness of the painter François Boucher as he was portrayed in a famous painting, now in the Musée National des Château de Versailles et de Trianon, by the Swedish artist Alexander Roslin in 1760 (MV4485; see Alexander Roslin, exhib. cat., Nationalmuseum Stockholm, 2007-2008, no. 26, ill.). By the time Roslin exhibited the portrait of Boucher at the Salon in 1761, he had been part of Boucher’s circle of patrons and admirers for several years. Roslin’s portrait was greatly admired by art lovers and critics alike at the Salon. The painting was praised both for its technical qualities and for its beauty. The composition was translated into prints by several 18th Century printmakers and widely circulated, inspiring the fascination of many viewers and copyists. In this early pastel version, much smaller than Roslin’s oil painting, the composition is reduced to the sitter’s face depicted with freshness and immediacy. The present work was offered for sale in 1911 with an attribution to Roslin’s own wife, Marie Suzanne Roslin.