Cleveland Museum of Art

Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells

François Boucher

Date

c. 1736

Medium

Black chalk with stumping, and red chalk, heightened with white chalk on beige laid paper

Culture

France, 18th century

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In this early chalk drawing, François Boucher combined plants, dolphins, rocks, shells, and tritons (mythological creatures that are part man and part fish) into a design that was meant to suggest a fountain in a rocky garden grotto. This sheet represents l'art rocaille, or "rock and shell art," a style of ornament that developed in France during the 1730s and featured decorative compositions with abundant detail. The image was one of seven that the printmaker Gabriel Huquier translated as etchings around the time Boucher completed them. These reproductions helped to bring Boucher's work to a broader audience, including other artists who emulated his style. While translating this drawing into etching, the printmaker Gabriel Huquier replaced Boucher's grotto setting with an architectural niche.

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