FRAN€OIS BOUCHER (ATTRIBUTED TO)

(Paris 1703-1770 Paris) Renaud and Armide. Pen and brown ink on cream laid paper. 413x590 mm; 16x23 inches. Large elaborate crowned shield watermark. With an attribution to Boucher in ink on an adhered sheet of paper, verso. Boucher won the Prix de Rome in 1723 but studied in Italy from 1727-31. The basis for the current work is likely the opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully (music) and Philippe Quinault (libretto) first performed at the Paris Op‚ra on February 15, 1686 and based on the earlier mythological story. The subject was also popular with Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), who painted the story of the 2 warrior-lovers on at least 2 occasions: one on the Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, Moscow, from circa 1625-26, and the other in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, from 1626-28.