The Toilette of Venus
François Boucher (French, Paris 1703–1770 Paris)

By
Brandy Heaton

The painting The Toilette of Venus is an oil painting which is feature in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This art was created on a 42 5/8 inch x 33 ½ inch canvas. This painting was created by Francois Boucher, a French painter, whom lived from September 1703 to May 1770. It is said that this painting was created for Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV whom was also an actress. The painting was commissioned for her dressing room at Bellevue, her Paris chateau. This was not intended to be a portrait; however it did show a likeness to her. I chose this piece because I feel that it is not only a beautiful piece, but I feel that it is truly timeless. This piece could sit in a home in present day just as easily as it did during the Victorian era.
This painting is an example of an extraordinary version of an ordinary object. The artwork pictures a nude woman in her mid-twenties to mid-thirties. She is sitting on a lavish velvet sofa adorned with gold edges. She is surrounded by shiny silk floor to ceiling tapestries. Around her feet lay golden vases, flowers and jewels. Adding to the overall serene picture there are three baby cherubs and doves. Her feet never touch the ground as they lay atop a golden embossed blanket. The painting was made in France Victorian era and seems to be in the upper scale of society judging from her surroundings. The representational view of this painting is naturalistic as it shows that woman and her surroundings in hues that you would see in the natural environment.
The audience of this picture seems to woman and men whom are middle aged lovers. This also represents the human experience. This is because the woman is a vision of peace and shows a motherly love by her interaction with the cherubs and doves. This scene would cause viewers to think of themselves in relation to inner peace and the way they felt when able to bear children. I think this art peace would put a couples mind at piece with regards to having off children and the inner peace it could bring.
This piece is more involved however then what we see on the surface. This also has direction and movement, this is expressed through the staircase going upward behind the woman and the tree tops showing some elevation, these also serve as the vanishing point. There is also shape and mass represented in the triangle shape position that of the woman and cherubs. The color choices are tertiary hues and complementary of each other. The emphasis is seen via use of brighter colors on the woman and cherubs. When oil painting began most artists would paint only on wood. However, these artist eventually changed over to using canvas as a surface because it was lighter, less likely to crack and would be rolled up for convenience. Oil paint itself is a pigment compound which was mixed with oil, usually linseed oil. Oil paints take much longer than standard paints to dry, but have the advantage of being able to blend several colors, using thick and thin layers and the ability to chip it away once dried to revise portions of the picture. Oil painting encompassed most of the paintings made until the 1950’s. This painting is magnificent. The colors are majestic, so rich and delicate. The entire painting, every aspect from the curtains, the jewels, the cherubs, the trees and stairway make me feel serene and pampered. I feel as though the woman is spending along glorious warm day with her cherubs, with her feet literally never hitting the floor. The stairway makes me think that there are more good times just ahead, and the tree tops make me think she’s above the ground, perhaps in the clouds. This painting is true art to me! In conclusion, I feel that the painting The Toilette of Venus, an oil painting by Francois Boucher was a very well done piece of art. He incorporates all the aspects of art that we have learned about, including extraordinary version of an ordinary object, a specific representational view; it has a definite audience, direction and movement, vanishing point and triangle shape position. We also see complementary colors in this artwork.