The Birth of Venus

ca. 1765

François Boucher French, 1703-1770

On View

European, Level 2, South Wing

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Markings

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Provenance

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Published References

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About the Artwork

Virtuoso and impressively sized, François Boucher’s Birth of Venus was owned by not one but two other artists. Made with loose and confident strokes of the brush, it offers a masterclass in expressive, dynamic painting. The sophisticated pyramidal composition pulls the eye toward the mass of nude limbs that rise dynamically toward a cloudy sky. Boucher’s use of an elegantly restrained palette, privileging pinks, blues, and grays, further emphasizes his energetic sketchlike technique. The Birth of Venus was owned by Boucher’s son-in-law Jean-Baptiste-Henri Deshays, himself a noted painter, before it passed to another relation, Pierre-Antoine Baudouin, who was an accomplished draftsman.

Title The Birth of Venus

Artwork Date ca. 1765

Artist François Boucher

Life Dates 1703-1770

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 69 5/8 × 30 3/8 inches (176.8 × 77.2 cm) Framed: 81 1/8 × 40 3/4 × 3 1/4 inches (206.1 × 103.5 × 8.3 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 29.445

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Jean-Baptiste Deshays (Paris, France)

Pierre-Antoine Baudouin [1723-1769] (Paris, France)

1770, purchased by Varanchamp [per Pannier] or Varanchan [per Marandel] (Paris, France) no. 10

Lorenzo Mérino (Paris, France)

(Wildenstein & Co., New York, New York, USA)

1929, purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

1929-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Pannier, G. Catalogue des oeuvres peintes de François Boucher qui ont passé en vente publique depuis 1770 jusqu'en 1906. Paris, 1906, p. 122.

Valentiner, W.R. "The Birth of Venus by Boucher." Bulletin of the DIA 11, no. 4 (January 1930): p. 48-50, p. 49 (ill.).

"Fine Mural by Boucher Acquired by Detroit Institute." The Art News 28, no. 14 (January 4, 1930): pp. 6-7 (ill.).

Valentiner, W.R. "Boucher Mural Acquired by the Detroit Museum." Art News 28, no. 4 (January 1930): pp. 48-50.

"Recent Museum Acquisitions." Parnassus, 2 (March 1930): pp. 40-41.

Heil, W. Catalogue of Paintings in the Permanent Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1930, cat. 17 (ill.).

Wilenski, R.H. French Painting. Boston, 1931, p. 145.

Richardson, E.P., ed. Detroit Institute of Arts Catalogue of Paintings. Detroit, 1944, p. 16, no. 17.

Richardson, E.P. Catalogue of the Whitcomb Gifts to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1954, pp. 60-69, p. 68 (ill.).

"Chardin's Brilliant Contemporaries." Art News 53, no. 10 (October 1954): p. 40.

French Eighteenth-century Painters. Exh. cat., Minneapolis Institute of Arts Wildenstein Gallery. Minneapolis and New York, 1954, no. 2.

Age of Elegance: The Rococo and Its Effect. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore, 1959, cat. no. 3.

French Masters, Rococo to Romanticism. Exh. cat., University of California at Los Angeles Art Gallery. Los Angeles, 1961, pp. 22-23.

Ananoff, A. François Boucher, vol. 2. Paris, 1976, pp. 257-258, no. 619, p. 257 (ill.).

Masterpieces of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art Municipal Museum of Art-Ibaraki, Museum of Modern Art. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ibaraki, 1989, pp. 69, 211-212, cat. 37 (ill.).

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