Artwork · 18th century · François Boucher

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The Toilette of Venus

François Boucher1751Oil on canvas108.3 × 85.1 cm

At a glance

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Venus, goddess of love, sits beneath silk curtains while winged little Cupids help her get ready.
Francois Boucher painted it in 1751.
Teal silk, pearls, a gilded incense burner, and white doves fill the scene with the shimmering luxuries that the French court of the 1700s loved.

Reading the picture

5 places to look closer

Tap a number on the painting to jump to its note, or a close-up to see that spot in the whole picture.

Zoom in on Venus's head. A Cupid leans down from above, holding a cluster of blue flowers to tuck into her hair. With his other hand he lifts a lock of it. A string of pearls is wound through her hair, and she tilts her head with a smile.
Look just above Venus's outstretched leg. A white dove spreads its wings as it lands. Another dove, tied with a blue ribbon, rests in her arms. In old paintings, the dove is the bird that always travels with Venus.
Zoom in on the lower left. A Cupid lying on his stomach scoops up a pearl necklace with both hands, and it spills down onto a silver dish. Each pearl gets its shine from a single tiny dot of white. The dish curls in swirls like a seashell.
Find the gold vessel on the right. Its lid is pierced with round holes, and thin wisps of smoke drift out between them. It is an incense burner. A few thick strokes topped with bright yellow touches are enough to make the metal gleam.
Zoom in on the stone step at lower right. The signature f. Boucher is written in slanting letters. Below all the sparkle above, the painter's name rests quietly on gray stone.

When it was painted

In 1751 Francois Boucher was about forty-eight and a painter in steady demand in Paris. At about twenty he had won the Royal Academy's Prix de Rome, studied in Italy, and come home to be admitted to the Academy. Paintings were only part of his output. He also designed tapestries and stage sets.

Among his patrons was Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV. She commissioned work from him again and again, and he painted several portraits of her. This picture was made for her too.

Its first home was Bellevue, the chateau she had just built on a hill above the Seine, west of Paris. It was not hung in a frame. Instead it was set into the carved and painted wooden panels of the wall. The room was her bathing apartment.

After that, the picture moved from house to house. When Madame de Pompadour died in 1764, it passed to her brother, the Marquis de Marigny. The next year, in 1765, Boucher was named First Painter to the King. More than a century later the canvas crossed the Atlantic, and in 1920 it came to the Metropolitan Museum as a bequest from William K. Vanderbilt.

Now look at the gilded scrolls on either side of the couch where Venus sits. The walls of the room at Bellevue were carved wood as well. Picture the painted ornament and the real ornament running together, and look again.

The painter

François Boucher

1703–1770

When painting this, the artist was about 48 years old

All paintings by François Boucher →

The Toilette of Venus

Questions to think about

Look for itHow many doves can you find in the picture, and where are they?
Why?Why do you think Boucher crowded so many costly things, like pearls, incense, and silk, around the goddess?
What about you?This picture was painted to decorate one noblewoman's bathing rooms. What do the pictures and objects we choose for our own homes today say about us?

Same period