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François Boucher

Fountain of Venus

1756
oil on canvas
233 × 215 cm (91.7 × 84.6 in)

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● On view now — 216B French and German

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · verified July 2026

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

Lighthearted, erotic decorative schemes remained popular among the French aristocracy throughout the 1700s. In this painting, part of the playfulness comes from the way Boucher painted some of the figures in gray, as if made of stone, while the others are fully human. The artist toyed with the boundaries of painting and sculpture, as well as fiction and reality.The original purpose of this painting remains unclear. While it may have been exhibited as an independent work of art, it probably served initially as a preliminary design for a tapestry.

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