BOUCHER, François
(b. 1703, Paris, d. 1770, Paris)

Marquise de Pompadour at the Toilet-Table

1758
Oil on canvas, 81 x 63 cm
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge

François Boucher was already an established painter when Madame de Pompadour made him her favourite artist. But it was not until 1765 that he was appointed "Premier peintre du roi", at a time when he was already out of fashion and the subject of vehement criticism.