Pompadour at Her Toilette
ArtistFrançois Boucher
Year1750
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions81 cm × 65 cm (32 in × 26 in)
LocationHarvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA

Pompadour at Her Toilette is an oil-on-canvas painting by François Boucher from 1750 (with later additions) depicting Madame de Pompadour.[1] The format of the painting changed several times after its initial creation. It was originally a small, rectangular bust, closely cropped around Pompadour's face. Boucher later enlarged the canvas with several rectangular strips, adding in the surrounding toilette scene. Sometime in the late eighteenth century, the painting was again adjusted to give it an oval format.[2] The painting is significant for its representation of Pompadour in the act of applying her rouge makeup. Art historians have interpreted the depiction of makeup in the scene as an exploration of Pompadour's agency in fashioning her own image.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ "Pompadour at Her Toilette | Harvard Art Museums". harvardartmuseums.org. Retrieved 2023-12-06.
  2. ^ Alden Rand Gordon and Teri Hensick, "The Picture Within the Picture: Boucher's 1750 'Portrait of Madame de Pompadour' Identified", Apollo (February 2002), pp. 21-30.
  3. ^ Hyde, Melissa (2000). "The "Makeup" of the Marquise: Boucher's Portrait of Pompadour at Her Toilette". The Art Bulletin. 82 (3): 453–475. doi:10.2307/3051397. ISSN 0004-3079.
  4. ^ Lajer-Burcharth, Ewa (2001). "Pompadour's Touch: Difference in Representation". Representations. 73 (1): 54–88. doi:10.1525/rep.2001.73.1.54. ISSN 0734-6018.
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