Music and Dance
François Boucher·1740s
Historical Context
Music and Dance (1740s), in the Cleveland Museum of Art, is a decorative painting depicting allegorical or genre figures engaged in musical and dancing performance. The sister arts of music and dance were frequently paired in Rococo decoration, their celebration of harmony and physical grace embodying the aesthetic ideals of the era. Boucher renders the performers with characteristic elegance, creating a vision of artistic performance that is itself a performance of artistic skill.
Technical Analysis
The allegorical figures are arranged in an elegant compositional rhythm that itself suggests musical harmony and dance movement. Boucher's characteristic soft palette and smooth handling create the refined decorative effect appropriate to an aristocratic interior.
Provenance
J. Carpenter Gamier, Rookesbury Park, Fareham, England; (Sale: Christie's, London, England, July 13, 1895); A. Werthemeyer; Baron Gustav Neufeld von Schoeller (?), Vienna, Austria; [Duveen Brothers, New York, NY]; Commodore and Mrs. Louis Dudley Beaumont, Cap d'Antibes, France; Louis Dudley Beaumont Foundation, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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