The prolific painter François Boucher (1703-1770) played a key role in the Rococo movement of the eighteenth century. To understand Portrait of Mme Boucher, we must first look at the events leading up to eighteenth century France, and the roles of paintings in this particular époque. The painting is highly erotic, emphasised by its commision, it's subject choice and it's composition.

In the seventeenth century, Louis XIV came into power and declared himself an absolute monarch, drastically undermining the power of Parliament and the Church. Louis XIV heavily patronized the arts, however all the works he commissioned had a quasi-propagandic aspect to them; they served to glorify and exalt the roi soleil.

The death of Louis XIV in 1715 also brought a big change in the artistic world. Since his son Louis XV was too young to take up the throne, Philippe D'Orleans was appointed reagent of France. The court was moved from Versailles to Paris, and its highly public fanfare gave way to an intimate, quieter way of life. Thus sprung Rococo, an art movement that glorified the intimacy and playfulness of the court. Painters tried to capture the sensuous charm of the bourgeois social life. In particular, this newly found intimate space of exhibition of works, gave way to the erotisism in the art world. The Rococo movement is embeded with both subtly coded and blatant erotisism, with an underlying theme of depicting earthly pleasures and the sensuality of nature.

Rococo portraits move away from the authority that seventeenth century portraiture was subjected to. No longer did art focus on showing the hierarchy of the court through dress and setting. Portraits now flattered the subject and brought out individual beauty and character instead of regalia.

Boucher's career is the epitome of the Rococo movement. J. de Goncourt states "Boucher is one of those men who signify the taste of a century. They personify it [the century]." He held the prestigious post of first painter to Louis XV, no doubt because of the extensive patronage that he enjoyed from the king's most powerful mistress, Madame de Pompadour. He was constantly featured in the fashionable Salon exhibitions of Paris, and he enjoyed much fame and fortune in his time.

Boucher is not renowned for his portraits. Unlike famous portraitist of the time like Nattier, La Tour, Chardin or Roslin, Boucher lacks detail in the facial characteristics of his subjects. Even though he created beautiful expressions in his paintings, characteristics that identify the subject seem to be lacking . In a great majority of his paintings we see faces that are similarly and non-descript. However this lack of exactitude didn't impede him from winning important portrait commissions, such as the one for Madame de Pompadour, and the portrait of Mme Berget. It is not the likeness to the subject that made Boucher's work stand out, but rather the mood that he evoked in the painting.

We notice that Boucher hardly ever paints male figures, instead fixating on the woman's femininity and her sexuality. His paintings, like those of his student Frogonard, have high sexual content, to be desiphered by the audience of the time. It was presumed that the viewer would understand the sexual allegory and their implication. Although Boucher did paint a series of highly erotic paintings for the sexual education of Louis XVI , he mostly painted paintings that hinted sexuality only to those who where familiar with the coded messages. Still, Diderot attacked Boucher in 1761 for his sexual allusions advocating sex without consequences

In Portrait of Mme Boucher, there is no doubt as to the sexual nature of the painting. However, there is a cloud of uncertainty over the identity of the sitter in, as its earlier name, Presumed portrait of Mme Boucher, would imply. Indeed, the painting has gone under many names, such as Portrait of woman with pug, Anonymous portrait and Sitting woman . There is no record of it ever been shown in any of the Salons; size alone would disqualify it. It was never publicly exhibited, and the earliest record is Ananoff's account of it in the Bardac collection. It should be noted that Boucher didn't date the painting, and could have been painted anytime between 1743 and 1746 .

Boucher married Jean-Marie Buseau in 1733. It was widely held view that she was a very beautiful woman. When painting his Psyché series, Bachamount advises Boucher to "read again Moliere's version of Psyché… but most importantly, have a good look at Mme Boucher!! Oh, how lucky you are to have a Psyché in your house, of whom you can make into a Venus as you please" . There are also rumors that Count Carl Gustaf Tessin of Sweden admired Mme Boucher. He even commissioned a string of paintings from Boucher from 1942 to 1944 , in which the subjects resemble the sitter in Portrait of Mme Boucher, notably Woman Fastening Her Garter, with Her Maid. In this painting we see the main figure wearing her hair in a similar fashion to that of Portrait of Mme Boucher. She also has similar looking cloak and same colored corset. She is tightening her stockings, and the play of her hands on the lace alludes to the ribbon on the pug. Even more strikingly similar is the beauty spot that is placed on both figures to the side of the right eye. Could it be that Boucher was commissioned to paint his own wife? It would seem reasonable; however, there are slight differences in the facial structure between the women in the two paintings. In Portrait of Mme Boucher, the sitters cheeks are more pronounced, while Woman Fastening her Garter has a sharper oval face. Boucher may have added this difference in the last minute. A study of Woman Fastening her Garter reveals a face that is very similar to that of Portrait of Mme Boucher. Both have similar cheeks and lips. This last minute change by Boucher may have been done for discretion. It wouldn't have been socially acceptable for Boucher to paint his wife for someone who coveted her. Though this might suggest that Mme Boucher is indeed the sitter in Portrait of Mme Boucher, there is still a lack of sufficient facial characteristic to definitely confirm the identity of the sitter.

A more plausible assumption is that in all his paintings, Boucher took inspiration from his wife. Most of his figures tend to show a facial similarity to many of his nymphs and Shepherdesses. Moreover, the central women in his paintings all seem to follow Jean Marie's age at the time, further increasing the link to them . The only really accurate portrait we have of Mme Boucher is by Roslin, who painted her at her 45 years. The likeness of the portrait to Mme Boucher is verified by Diderot in his review of the Salon where it featured .

The painting is aimed at an audience that can appreciate fashion and taste. Delicate details, such as the dog's ribbon matching the head dress that she is wearing, show an pandering to modern fashion sense, as does the delicate brunch chemise that is so painstakingly depicted. The oval shape that frames the painting also denounces that it was a parlor painting, for private viewing pleasures. The interior setting is further emphasised by the clothing the sitter ports, clothing obviously meant for the interior. The main palette of the painting consists of pink, in Mme Boucher's skin tone and dress, green in the background, blue and gray. The colors are not vivid, and give a overall subdued feeling. The painting is not threatening, and reduces the viewer to the role of voyeur.

The viewer cannot escape the gaze of the sitter. The sitter is set in the foreground, in what appears to be some sort of chambre. There is a chair in the left background, and there is an unfinished piece of furniture on the side. Thus, the space does not recede into a focal point or perspective, rather it exists on two planes. Boucher does this in an attempt to create a connection between the viewer and the painting. It is for a voyeuristic urge that the painter caters for. In Classical portraiture, whose purpose was a public viewing, show faces that gaze past the viewer, into a blank panorama. By contrast, in this painting the eyes look down at the viewer, not straight out, as one might expect. The sitter is aware of the audience, with a knowing smile and a gentle tilt of the head in a deliciously coquettish fashion. She is the object of the Berger's Gaze , a pleasure object for the presumably male viewer.

The main figure of the woman is centered in the painting, though her head and body symmetry is slightly skewed to the left. The composition consists of a series of triangles that move the viewer's eye around the painting. There are four main triangles. The first triangle is in the exact center of the oval canvas, and is the flesh colored bosom of the sitter. This triangle is encased by the straight cut of the dress, and the sides of the brunch chemise. The right hand of the sitter and the bottom line of the dog create another triangle. The third triangle is seen with the fold of the left arm, meeting up with the pug, and following the straight line of the fold in the fabric of the chemise. These three triangles jointly make up the fourth triangle, with encompasses the whole pyramidal structure of the composition.

Thus the movement of the eye follows these lines. Our eyes first meet the sitter's gaze, who directs us to her left elbow, whose hand points us to the dog. The dogs stares outside of the painting, however, the lines take the eye from the dog, to the right arm, and by the ribbon to the dog again. This same arm can then point us back to the face, thus leading the eye in a circular motion around the painting.

The pug is the figure situated directly in the center of the tableau, and the main source of symbolic reference. On a shallow level, the pug can be interpreted as a possession that would only belong to the bourgeois. It is not a hunting dog, nor an animal from nature. It is a toy, bred purely for the enjoyment of the upper class. This determines the lady's stature in society.

The dog as a symbol generally alludes to marital fidelity . This allusion might be particularly important, given the mystery surrounding the identity of the sitter. The pulling apart of the ribbon teases at the implied fidelity of the dog. The sexual tension is achieved by this "hint" of infidelity.

On an aesthetic level, the dog serves to highlight the beauty of the sitter. The dog is to be considered grotesque by the Rococo standards. Furthermore, its features have been exaggerated to make it look more hideous than normal. The vulgarity of the dog makes the light materials and soft skin of the sitter seem more sensual. The distinction between pug and sitter is betrayed here by Boucher's paint strokes. There is a very peculiar brush stroke in the lady's nose, a white highlight of light. It seems oddly out of place, until we imagine what the nose would look like without it. Without this highlight, the nose would look similar to that of the pug! This stroke was probably added later in the painting by Boucher to make sure the distinction between both creatures was noticeable.

The small dog sits on the sitter's lap. On careful observation, the front paws of the pug are painted in such a way to suggest they are barley stable. The same is seen with the rear of the dog. This coupled by the folds of the dress, suggest that the dog is only tittering on one of the sitter's legs. The folds of the skirt show that the knee that would be hidden under all that fabric would be pointing toward the viewer, just inside the viewing space, toward the bottom left hand corner. Given this, and the fact that the composition is based on triangular constructions, to hold aesthetic harmony, the spectator immediately associates the pattern of triangles with the sitter's legs. In this way, Boucher can hint that the legs are slightly opened under the skirt, without need of blatant representation. Indeed, it would hard to image the legs being otherwise, given the fold of fabric and the outlay of the skirt. Once more, this alludes to the sexual nature and pleasures that are reserved for the viewer.

Great detail has gone into the working of the hands. The hands give the painting its only movement, in the fondling of the ribbon. It is an area of the tableau that has received particular attention, as shown by the many different layers of paint. The outlines of the hands are considerably more defined than other areas of the skin. Unlike the blend of line in the face, the outlines of the hands are marked, which hints at the detail that is meant to be seen by the viewer.

The left hand is very coquettish, and mimics her facial countenance. Her fingers are shown to delicately move around the ribbon. There is not tension in her finger, and consequently no tension on the ribbon, suggesting that it is just lightly kept in her hand. It is almost as if she carefully contemplates the act of whether to "undress" the dog or not.

Her right hand is perhaps a stronger sign of the sexuality. At first inspection, it looks as though she is teasing the ribbon. But on closer inspection, there is a peculiarity in the way she holds it. The poser's hand is clenched, and the ribbon sits between her thumb and her index finger. However, why does it continue to flow past her hand? This is a very unusual grip, and certainly not a natural one. In fact, it is unclear whether she is holding the ribbon, or whether it is simply placed across her fingers. Yet the ribbon is tense, and the allusion to it being removed is unmistakable. Unlike the other hand that wavers in contemplation, this hand is blatant in its recourse. It tenses the ribbon, and it also clenches at the dog's leg. Indeed, the uncertainty of the position of the ribbon in the hand makes us look down at the grip she has on that leg, which for the purposes in this painting gives us a phallic reference, an erotic signal. The male viewer can identify himself with that leg, being firmly gripped by the sitter. In light of these observations, it is clear that this painting was meant for an intimate space, such as a chambre or salon in the house of nobility or bourgeois. It is a reference not only to sex, but it is rejoicing in pleasures of beauty. It shows a woman, at the prime of her beauty, not only eluding to sexual gratification, but doing it in a way that is seen as acceptable to it's target society. There in lies the balance of respectability and indulgence that makes Boucher such an exciting painter.

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