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| Francois Boucher |
At the age of 17, Boucher was apprenticed to François Lemoyne, however after only 3 months he went to work for the engraver Jean-François Cars. Within 3 years Boucher had won the elite Grand Prix de Rome.
On his return from studying in Italy in 1731, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture as a historical painter, and became a faculty member in 1734.
His career moved upwards and onwards from this point, as he advanced from professor to Rector of the Academy, became head of the Royal Gobelin factory in 1755 and finally "Premier Peintre du Roi" in 1765. Boucher's early work celebrates the idyllic and tranquil, portraying nature and landscape with great élan, with much of his work reflecting inspiration gained from artists Watteau and Rubens. However, his work typically forgoes traditional rural innocence to portray scenes with a definitive style of eroticism.