Second Half Of The 18th Century, Follower Of François Boucher, Odalisque

Second half of the 18th century, follower of François Boucher

Odalisque

Oil on canvas, cm 75 x 125

With frame, cm 124 x 152

In the 18th century, the French artist François Boucher did not depict women as venerations of classical beauty, but as muses with provocative, erotic and unequivocal poses. Painter at the court of Louis XV and favourite of the Marquise de Pompadour, François Boucher was both criticized and admired. Among the most famous works of the French master there is certainly L'Odalisca: lying on her stomach and with her legs open, the woman in the famous painting by Boucher wears nothing but a delicate blue ribbon between her blonde hair. Undeterred in her nakedness, the woman rests on a chaise longue and her gaze is attracted by something that lies outside the frame of the painting. The model for this famous painting would be Marie-Louise O'Murphy, a young daughter of Irish immigrants born in 1737 who worked as a seamstress in Paris. After meeting Boucher in 1751, Marie-Louise was hired by the artist as a model. Later, she became the mistress of Louis XV. Boucher created two versions of this scene: one at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and the other at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne.

In 1752, Boucher repaints Marie-Louise, copying his own work with some modifications. This time he chooses a darker palette and adds an oriental incense burner in the lower left corner, instead of the open book. The artist responsible for our painting, certainly a follower of Boucher, combines different elements of the three versions of the Odalisque, giving life to an original composition that does not imitate the pedissequa imitation of innovative models introduced by the master.