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Source Description
In this early chalk drawing, François Boucher combined plants, dolphins, rocks, shells, and tritons (mythological creatures that are part man and part fish) into a design that was meant to suggest a fountain in a rocky garden grotto. This sheet represents <em>l'art rocaille, </em>or "rock and shell art," a style of ornament that developed in France during the 1730s and featured decorative compositions with abundant detail. The image was one of seven that the printmaker Gabriel Huquier translated as etchings around the time Boucher completed them. These reproductions helped to bring Boucher's work to a broader audience, including other artists who emulated his style.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
130150
label
Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
130150
contentType
drawing
title
Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells
description
In this early chalk drawing, François Boucher combined plants, dolphins, rocks, shells, and tritons (mythological creatures that are part man and part fish) into a design that was meant to suggest a fountain in a rocky garden grotto. This sheet represents <em>l'art rocaille, </em>or "rock and shell art," a style of ornament that developed in France during the 1730s and featured decorative compositions with abundant detail. The image was one of seven that the printmaker Gabriel Huquier translated as etchings around the time Boucher completed them. These reproductions helped to bring Boucher's work to a broader audience, including other artists who emulated his style.
date
c. 1736
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79911893
creators
1888
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 37.7 x 22.2 cm (14 13/16 x 8 3/4 in.); Secondary Support: 39.6 x 24.2 cm (15 9/16 x 9 1/2 in.)
cul
France, 18th century
accession
1952.529
Source extras
tec
Black chalk with stumping, and red chalk, heightened with white chalk on beige laid paper
tombstone
Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells, c. 1736. François Boucher (French, 1703–1770). Black chalk with stumping, and red chalk, heightened with white chalk on beige laid paper; sheet: 37.7 x 22.2 cm (14 13/16 x 8 3/4 in.); secondary support: 39.6 x 24.2 cm (15 9/16 x 9 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1952.529
supportMaterials
description
beige(1) laid paper, laid down on beige laid paper
collection
DR - French
inscriptions
inscription
lower left, in brown ink: Boucher; secondary support, in graphite: [195?]; verso of secondary support, upper center, in brown ink: M / No. 53; center, in graphite: B / [illegible]
didYouKnow
While translating this drawing into etching, the printmaker Gabriel Huquier replaced Boucher's grotto setting with an architectural niche.
citations
citation
Michel, André. <em>François Boucher</em>. Paris: L'Édition d'Art, H. Piazza et Cie, 1906.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 141, no. 2554
citation
"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April - June 1953." <em>Art Quarterly</em> 16, no. 4 (Winter 1953): 346-365.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 353
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 594
citation
<em>In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 117
citation
Thomas, Hylton. <em>The Eighteenth Century: One Hundred Drawings by One Hundred Artists</em>. Exh. Cat. Minneapolis: University of Minnesoty, 1961.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 18, no. 6; Reproduced: plate I
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 135
citation
Ananoff, Alexandre. <em>L'Oeuvre dessiné de François Boucher (1703-1770): catalogue raisonné</em>. Paris: F. de Nobele, 1966
page_number
Mentioned: no. 968?
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 135
citation
Rosenberg, Pierre. <em>French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections</em>. Exh. Cat. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1972.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 136-137, no. 12; Reproduced: plate 85
citation
Slatkin, Regina Shoolman. <em>François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings</em>. Exh. Cat. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1973.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 38, no. 29
citation
Ananoff, Alexandre. <em>François Boucher</em>. Lausanne: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1976.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 11
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 177
citation
Jean-Richard, Pierrette. <em>L'Oeuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild</em>. Paris: Éditions des Musées Nationaux, 1978.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 274, under no. 1096
citation
Sutton, Denys. <em>François Boucher</em>. Exh. Cat. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1982.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 189, 245, no. 83; Reproduced: p. 113
citation
Landau, Ellen G. “‘A Fairytale Circumstance’ the Influence of Stage Design on the Work of François Boucher.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 70, no. 9 (November 1983): 360–378.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 367-368, fig. 12
citation
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 8, pp. 100-101, 288, no. 36; Reproduced: p. 101
citation
Prat, Louis-Antoine. <em>Le dessin français au XVIIIe siècle.</em> Paris: Louvre éditions: Somogy, 2017.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 174, no. 293
catalogueRaisonne
Michel 2554?; Ananoff 968?
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-06-03 11:06:03.988000
sourceId
130150
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - French
med
Black chalk with stumping, and red chalk, heightened with white chalk on beige laid paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a37a07a730060039