Francois BoucherFrench, 1703–1770Venus on the Waves
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Venus on the Waves” now? J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum South Pavilion, Upper Atrium, Los Angeles. Yes, on view now. Checked October 5, 2026.
Open now· until 5:30 PM
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
François Boucher depicted a mythological world of delicate sensuality and indolence. Putti and doves attend Venus, the goddess of love, as she lounges amid a luxurious heap of drapery, while an elaborately decorative sky occupies the upper half of the painting. The artist used a pastel palette of blues, pinks, mauves, and peach tones and loose, rapid brushstrokes more characteristic of his tapestry designs than of his finished oil paintings. In 1768, Jean-François Bergeret de Frouville commissioned a set of six mythological subjects for his house in Paris. Together with delicate furnishings of the period, these colorful paintings created a room of Rococo refinement and vivacity. Boucher painted the works, including this one and its companion piece, [*Aurora and Cephalus*](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/599/francois-boucher-aurora-and-cephalus-french-1769/), just one year before his death. The other four paintings now belong to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
J. Paul Getty Museum
Details
- Accession number
- 71.PA.54
In the catalog
Sources
- J. Paul Getty Museum
- Image: J. Paul Getty Museum — Open Content
In the life of Francois Boucher
The whole life1720–1770 · Workplace
Paris
1765–1770
Post: Premier peintre du Roi
1767
Mentor to Jacques-Louis David
He became a mentor to the young Jacques-Louis David, the future leader of Neoclassicism.
1770
Honorary Member of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg
A few months before his death he was elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.
30 May 1770
Died
