FRANÇOIS BOUCHER (PARIS, 1703 – PARIS, 1770) The Bird Catcher c. 1730 Oil on canvas 54.5 x 46 cm. Provenance Private collection What prank is this young man about to get up to? His broad smile suggests that he is plotting some mischief. In the palm of his right hand, he holds a sparrow, whilst his raised left index finger makes a warning gesture. A warning, then, which is nevertheless contradicted by that smile. Unless it is a promise or a challenge… The figure, off-screen, to whom the young man is addressing himself, probably appears in a second painting, as a companion piece. In that case, the scene could take on a romantic tone in which the bird would have a sexual connotation. Indeed, numerous paintings by the same artist feature this little scene in which a young girl slips the bird given to her by her suitor into her cage, in an explicit metaphor for the act of love, as in *The Bird Nesters* (Christie’s auction, New York, 23 Oct. 2012, lot 89) or, more masterfully, in *Les Dénicheurs d’oiseaux*, held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where one of the young suitors makes the same gesture with his finger. Rustic in its subject matter, the scene is also so in its treatment of the rosy skin tones and the rapidly applied brushstrokes, which are reminiscent of the style of the Dutch painter Frans Hals, thus demonstrating the influence of Northern European painting on François Boucher. François Boucher (1703–1770) is one of the iconic French painters of the Age of Enlightenment. His ‘galant’ style, which emphasised the eroticism of the figures over the heroism of historical subjects, found favour at court, particularly with Madame de Pompadour, who commissioned numerous portraits from him. Appointed First Painter to King Louis XV in 1765, at the height of his career, Boucher began his apprenticeship with his father and then in the studio of the engraver Jean-François Cars, where he became familiar with the work of Watteau. But it was with François Lemoyne, the great decorator of Versailles, that he learnt to paint and was introduced to the subtleties of the Rococo style. Following a stay in Italy (1727–1731), he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1734 with *Renaud and Armide*, now in the Louvre. Beyond history painting, in which mythological scenes serve as a pretext for amorous escapades, Boucher covered a vast repertoire ranging from pastoral scenes to court portraits. This *Oise- leur* (whose attribution to Boucher is confirmed by art historians Alastair Laing and Fran- çoise Joulie) is one of the early works by the artist, who was greatly influenced by the Flemish painters. Known during his stay in Italy as an artist ‘painting in the Flemish manner’, on his return he produced a series of rustic and humorous drawings which were engraved to illustrate works by Molière (1622–1673). François Boucher’s style is characterised by a lively, luminous and colourful brushstroke. His painting, devoid of melancholy, evokes a joyful world that turns its back on life’s torments to focus solely on its pleasures. The idealised everyday life to which he invites us is that perceived by a privileged society still spared from the revolutionary upheavals to come.