A Farmyard Scene, ca. 1755
Black chalk heightened with white on gray-blue paper, 13 5/8 x 18 7/8 in. (34.6 x 48 cm)
Everett V. Meeks, B.A. 1901, Fund, and Paul Mellon, B.A. 1929, Funds
1969.16
François Boucher was one of the most prolific draftsmen of the eighteenth century and claimed to have produced some ten thousand drawings during his lifetime. Characterized as an artist who walked a fine line between the decorative and the fine arts, Boucher revitalized interest in the pastoral or rustic landscape, of which this work is a charming example. The black chalk of A Farmyard Scene was Boucher's favored drawing medium. Here, he combines it with white chalk to achieve the broadest possible range of light and dark values, with the blue paper providing a middle (twilight?) ground. This image reflects Boucher's affinity for Dutch landscape and genre scenes of the seventeenth century.
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