Editing François Boucher (section)

==Life==
A native of Paris, Boucher was the son of a lesser known painter Nicolas Boucher, who gave him his first artistic training. At the age of seventeen, a painting by Boucher was admired by the painter [[François Lemoyne]]. Lemoyne later appointed Boucher as his apprentice, but after only three months, he went to work for the engraver [[Jean-François Cars]].<ref name="Oxford">Alastair Laing. "Boucher, François." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 June 2016</ref>
[[Image:Marie-Jeanne Buzeau by Alexandre Roslin.jpg|thumb|left|220px|''Portrait of Marie-Jeanne Buzeau, wife of Boucher'' by [[Alexander Roslin]]]]

In 1720, he won the elite [[Grand Prix de Rome]] for painting, but did not take up the consequential opportunity to study in Italy until five years later, due to financial problems at the [[Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture]].<ref name="Oxford" /> On his return from studying in Italy he was admitted to the refounded [[Académie de peinture et de sculpture]] on 24 November 1731.<ref name=Lev>[[Michael Levey|Levey, Michael]]. (1993) ''Painting and sculpture in France 1700–1789''. New Haven: [[Yale University Press]], p. 164. {{ISBN|0300064942}}</ref> His ''[[Reception piece|morceau de réception]]'' (reception piece) was his ''Rinaldo and Armida'' of 1734.<ref name=Lev/>

Boucher married Marie-Jeanne Buzeau in 1733. The couple had three children together. Boucher became a faculty member in 1734 and his career accelerated from this point as he was promoted Professor then Rector of the academy, becoming inspector at the [[Gobelins Manufactory|Royal Gobelins Manufactory]] and finally ''[[Premier Peintre du Roi]]'' (First Painter of the King) in 1765.
[[Image:Resting_Girl_by_Fran%C3%A7ois_Boucher_(1753)_-_Alte_Pinakothek_-_Munich_-_Germany_2017_(crop).jpg|thumb|''[[The Blonde Odalisque]]'' or ''Resting Girl'', (thought to be [[Marie-Louise O'Murphy]])<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wallace |first=Arminta |title=Marie-Louise O'Murphy, the Versailles king's Irish mistress |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/marie-louise-o-murphy-the-versailles-king-s-irish-mistress-1.3097712 |access-date=2023-09-09 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> {{Circa|1752}}]]

Boucher died on 30 May 1770 in his native Paris. His name, along with that of his patron [[Madame de Pompadour]], had become synonymous with the French Rococo style, leading the [[Goncourt brothers]] to write: "Boucher is one of those men who represent the taste of a century, who express, personify and embody it."

Boucher is famous for saying that nature is "trop verte et mal éclairée" (too green and badly lit).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Houssaye|first=Arsène|title=Boucher et la peinture sous Louis XV|journal=Revue des deux mondes|series=New series|volume=3|year=1843|pages=70–98}} p. 86 (citing a letter to [[Nicolas Lancret]]).</ref>

Boucher was associated with the gemstone engraver [[Jacques Guay]], whom he taught to draw. He also mentored the Moravian-Austrian painter [[Martin Ferdinand Quadal]] as well as the neoclassical painter [[Jacques-Louis David]] in 1767.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arthive.com/artists/31055~Martin_Ferdinand_Quadal|title=Martin Ferdinand Quadal – Biography, Interesting Facts, Famous Artworks|website=Arthive|access-date=2019-04-03}}</ref> Later, Boucher made a series of drawings of works by Guay which Madame de Pompadour then engraved and distributed as a handsomely bound volume to favored courtiers.<ref>{{cite book|pages=[https://archive.org/details/noticesurejacqu01letugoog/page/n168 10]–12 |last=Leturcq|first=Jean François|title=Notice sur Jacques Guay, graveur sur pierres fines du roi Louis xv. Documents émanant de Guay, et notes sur les œuvres de gravure en taille-douce et en pierres fines de la marquise de Pompadour |publisher=Baur |url=https://archive.org/details/noticesurejacqu01letugoog|access-date=2014-08-24 |year=1873}}</ref>