Francois Boucher

Happy Birthday Francois Boucher!! Born in Paris in 1703, Boucher was a decorator and painter in the Rococo style, the son of a lace maker. He originally trained and worked as an engraver and won accolades at the Academy in 1723, allowing him to study in Rome. Boucher finally traveled to Italy in 1727 to take advantage of that offer, returning in 1731 to eventually become a professor and then the highest honor as “First Painter of the King”. His work was idyllic nature and genre scenes (sometimes quite passionate) as well as several series of tapestries. The painting I have included today is titled The Interrupted Sleep (1750) and hangs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.