The Bird Catchers

François Boucher

1748

Oil on canvas, Oil, Canvas

J. Paul Getty Museum

A group of people are gathered in a garden setting, some interacting with bird cages. A classical ruin and lush greenery form the backdrop. A group of people are gathered in a garden setting, some interacting with bird cages. A classical ruin and lush greenery form the backdrop. Responding to the contemporary rage for pastoral scenes depicting amorous countryside games, François Boucher here exhibited young, fashionable couples in the act of catching birds. In the 1700s, small birds played an important symbolic role in courtship ritual: the gift of a caged bird from a man to a woman signified her capture of his heart. Posed in front of the ruins of the Temple of Vesta, young women dressed in exquisite finery play with small birds; some tether them with strings while oth