Venus on the Waves  1769

François Boucher depicted a mythological world of delicate sensuality and indolence. Putti and doves attend Venus, the goddess of love, as she lounges amid a luxurious heap of drapery, while an elaborately decorative sky occupies the upper half the panel. The artist used a pastel palette of blues, pinks, mauves, and peach tones and loose, rapid brushstrokes more characteri...