Biography

Boucher excelled as a painter of decorative pictures, joyful and exuberant in character. His varied work included portraits, landscapes, mythological subjects, designs for tapestries, drawings and engravings. Boucher won first prize at the French Academy in 1723 and travelled to Rome in 1728. On his return to Paris he established a successful studio and became the favoured painter of King Louis XV and his mistress Madame de Pompadour. He was overwhelmed with commissions and was appointed First Painter to the King in 1765.