Angelica and Medoro
Angelica and Medoro c1763 by French Painter François Boucher (1703 – 1770), who was also an accomplished draughtsman and etcher. He worked in the Rococo Style and is known for his idyllic classical themes, pastoral scenes and decorative allegories.
This is a beautiful Rococo Period painting which shows Angelica and Medoro, which were two popular characters for Romantic painters from the 16th up until the 19th century; that were derived from the Italian epic Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto.
In the epic Angelica is an Asian Princess at the court of Charlemagne [(Charles The Great, April 02, 0742 – January 28, 0814) – King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of the Romans from 800.]; who falls in love with the Saracen Knight Medoro, and elopes with him to China.
In this presentation Angelica and Medoro are in a forest with three cherubs. Angelica is partially clothed in white, pink and blue fabric; white Medoro is partially clothed in a leopards skin.
Angelica is sitting on a velvet emerald green tubular pillow that has beside it a red and gold quiver with arrows and Medoro is holding a lance in his left hand off to his left side, while he picks red and white roses with his right had for Angelica.
In the background among the trees is one cherub holding a lighted torch looking farther off into the forest; while the other one below him has his left arm on Medoro’s right arm; with his right arm outstretched as if indicating which roses to pick.
The third cherub is by the legs of Angelica and he is carrying a laurel leaf wreath as he floats on the clouds that are blanketing the forest floor.
This is a retouched digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image.
Decorative Accents Used In This Piece Are Available At HeritageType
Info Below Derived From Wikipedia.org
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.
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.[1] On his return from studying in Italy he was admitted to the refounded Académie de peinture et de sculpture on 24 November 1731. His morceau de réception (reception piece) was his Rinaldo and Armida of 1734.
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 Royal Gobelins Manufactory and finally Premier Peintre du Roi (First Painter of the King) in 1765. Portrait of Marie-Louise O’Murphy c. 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).
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.[4] 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