The dispatch of the messenger

Boucher, François (1703-1770)


Item type:
painting
Date of creation:
1765
Height:
32.1 cm  (12 5/8 in.)
Width:
26.7 cm  (10 1/2 in.)
Technique / Medium:
oil on canvas

    Item location

  • Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
    [Museum inv. no.: 44.141]

Description

At the Salon of 1765, this painting was exhibited as one of a series of four. Here the shepherd will fasten his love letter to the dove with a blue ribbon. A second oval depicted the arrival of the dove carrying the letter. In one of two rectangular canvases, the shepherdess read the letter to her confidante; in the other the lovers met. A young man, obviously a shepherd (identified by the sheep and the dog around him, and a bagpipe lying on the right side) seated in forest and holding a letter in hand.

Iconclass

46E32
pigeon (as messenger)

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Bagpipe [3746]

RIdIM images


Image URLs

image link 1

RIdIM record id

3807