Allegory of Lyric Poetry

Allegory of Lyric Poetry (1753), at the Metropolitan Museum, personifies the art of lyric poetry through classical female figures with appropriate attributes. The painting belongs to a decorative program celebrating the arts, each personification rendered with Boucher's characteristic sweetness and luminous palette. Such allegorical series decorated the most prestigious rooms of aristocratic residences, their learned subjects demonstrating the patron's cultural refinement. Boucher was the supreme master of this decorative tradition, his figures combining classical learning with the sensuous visual pleasure that defined Rococo taste.

The allegorical figure is rendered with Boucher's characteristic smooth, luminous flesh painting and elegant pose. The decorative setting incorporates musical attributes and cloud-borne draperies typical of Rococo ceiling and overdoor compositions.