The representation of intimacy and sexuality in the paintings of François Boucher E-Book

Sandra Kuberski

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Art - History of Art, grade: 1,7, University of Essex (Art History), course: Art, Sex & Death in the 18th Century, language: English, abstract: François Boucher (1703-1770) has not been taken seriously by art historians for many years. It took them a while to discover his genius. Today he is one of the most important painters of the Rococo. In his paintings he covers themes like female grace and sexuality and transfers his protagonists into intimate and erotic settings. This essay is going to examine the ways in which Boucher does represent those themes of intimacy and sexuality in his paintings. To support the resulting arguments, specific examples of his works will be given. The essay concludes in a comparison to Boucher’s most talented pupil, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and his famous painting ‘The Swing’.

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The representation of intimacy and sexuality in the paintings of François Boucher

François Boucher (1703-1770) has not been taken seriously by art historians for many years. It took them a while to discover his genius. Today he is one of the most important painters of the Rococo. In his paintings he covers themes like female grace and sexuality and transfers his protagonists into intimate and erotic settings. This essay is going to examine the ways in which Boucher does represent those themes of intimacy and sexuality in his paintings. To support the resulting arguments, specific examples of his works will be given. The essay concludes in a comparison to Boucher’s most talented pupil, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and his famous painting ‘The Swing’.

The image of woman was in the 18th century was ambivalent. Even if at least the aristocratic women achieved some impact in social life, they were still seen as “property” of their male proponents.[1] Although Enlightenment thinkers debated on the role and nature of women, in predominant opinion females were considered as ‘dangerous’, especially “it was the female body as an erotic, sexual body that was problematic and that was deemed to require containment in the interest of social order.”[2] This was simply because the female body had the power to throw even the most serious man off track.