Angelica and Medoro

Angelica and Medoro (1763), at the Metropolitan Museum, illustrates an episode from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso in which the Saracen warrior Medoro and the princess Angelica carve their names on a tree after their secret marriage. Boucher treats this romantic literary subject with characteristic sweetness and decorative elegance, the lovers presented in an idyllic pastoral landscape. Ariosto's sixteenth-century epic poem was a rich source for French Rococo painters, its blend of romance, adventure, and pastoral beauty providing subjects perfectly suited to the decorative aesthetic.

Boucher's characteristic soft, idealized flesh painting creates figures of decorative beauty in a lush landscape setting. The warm palette of pinks and golds against cool greens demonstrates the Rococo color harmonies he perfected.