Allegory of the Education of Louis XV

This painting, done entirely in grisaille (shades of gray, black, and white), depicts the sea-nymph Thetis presenting her son Achilles to the muscular centaur Chiron, who tutored the young hero. Hovering behind are Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Fame, who holds trumpets and wreaths; above, a chorus of putti with copiously dimpled flesh drape garlands around empty medallions. The work is an allegory of the education of Louis XV: in 1717, at the age of seven, he was taken from his governess, the Duchesse de Ventadour, and given to the care of a governor, the Duc de Villeroy, and male tutors.

François Boucher holds an unparalleled place among eighteenth- century French artists; he excelled in painting, drawing, and printmaking, as well as tapestry and porcelain design, and was especially known for the freedom and virtuosity of his draftsmanship. The AMAM's work, executed when Boucher was at the height of his powers, bears witness to his talent in various media. It is a painting with the feel of a drawing, and was made in preparation for an etching that was to be just one of a series of prints conceived by the engraver Charles-Nicolas Cochin to depict medallions made in commemoration of important episodes in the life of the king (represented by the empty circles in the AMAM painting). With wonderful effects of light and tonal variety, the painting is at once historical, contemporary, literary, mythological, and allegorical, and depicts adults, children, female and male nudes, clothed figures, waves, and putti in an energetic zigzag composition-in short, many of the elements for which Boucher is celebrated.

This is the first painting by Boucher to enter the AMAM's collection and joins other distinguished paintings by French artists from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, including Antoine Coypel, Pierre-Antoine Patel, Jean-Baptiste Pater, Jean- Baptiste-Siméon Chardin Jean-Marc Nattier, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, and Louis Lagrenée, as well as prints by Antoine Watteau and Pierre Subleyras.