The Fountain of Love

François Boucher

1748

Oil on canvas, Oil, Canvas

J. Paul Getty Museum

A pastoral scene depicts couples and children interacting with farm animals in a lush landscape with a building and waterfall. A pastoral scene depicts couples and children interacting with farm animals in a lush landscape with a building and waterfall. A young man with a flute gazes languidly at his companion, a rosy-cheeked, barefoot woman dressed in red silk who returns his gaze longingly. Another youth offers a shell full of fresh water to a dainty maiden in a diaphanous gown of purple-gold and red satin. These amorous couples, accompanied by young children frolicking with goats, appear in an idyllic setting of lush, green, leafy trees under a pale blue sky with gray-pink clouds. By blending sensuality, covert eroticism, and refinement, pastoral paintin