Sketched with red and white chalk on tan-colored paper, a nude woman sits looking down to our right in this vertical drawing. The woman’s body is angled to our right, and she has a round face with a small nose, bow-shaped mouth, and slight double chin. A few lines suggest her hair is swept up and back from her forehead. She leans onto her left elbow, to our right and farther from us, which appears to rest on a bank of clouds. She reaches forward with her other hand to hold some drapery. She has soft, rounded arms, tummy, and thighs, and her ankles are crossed. The artist signed the lower left corner, “f. boucher.”
Read the visual description

Sketched with red and white chalk on tan-colored paper, a nude woman sits looking down to our right in this vertical drawing. The woman’s body is angled to our right, and she has a round face with a small nose, bow-shaped mouth, and slight double chin. A few lines suggest her hair is swept up and back from her forehead. She leans onto her left elbow, to our right and farther from us, which appears to rest on a bank of clouds. She reaches forward with her other hand to hold some drapery. She has soft, rounded arms, tummy, and thighs, and her ankles are crossed. The artist signed the lower left corner, “f. boucher.”

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

Aurora

François Boucher

Date
c. 1733
Medium
red and white chalk on brown laid paper, with later framing line in brown ink
Dimensions
overall: 37.5 x 23.5 cm (14 3/4 x 9 1/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
2000.9.3
Credit line
Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler
Time span
1726 to 1750
Department
CG-E

Subjects and terms

  • French
  • Seated figure
  • Rococo
  • Female nude
Provenance

Peter Jones, Chester; Mr. Green; Basil Lewis Dighton [d. 1930], London; The Hon. Irwin Boyle Laughlin, Washington, D.C., 1918; his wife, Therese Iselin Laughlin, Washington, D.C., 1941; their daughter, Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, New York, 1958; gift to NGA, 2000.

Inscription

in black chalk at lower left: f. boucher; in brown ink on the old mount at upper left: 1; and at lower right: 114

NGA object ID 111589. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.