La Toilette de Venus
1783
Jean Francois Janinet (French, 1752-1814) after François Boucher (French, 1703-1770)
France
One of Jean François Janinet's most ambitious productions, this carefully wrought print reproduces at one-third size a painting by François Boucher made in 1751 for his most important patron, the Marquise de Pompadour. The painting hung in the bathroom of the marquise's château at Bellevue and was sold after her death in 1764, probably to Jean François Chereau, the publisher of this elaborate print.
Color aquatint from four plates, crayon-manner, and etching on paper