Saint John the Baptist

François Boucher

c. 1755

Oil on canvas

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A muscular, bare-chested man with curly hair sits with his hands clasped in prayer, draped in red fabric and animal fur. He is in a naturalistic setting with a sheep beside him and cherubs in the sky above. Boucher painted this picture for his patron, Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV. Partly to please the religious faction at court, she commissioned devotional pictures for the chapels in her various residences. She ordered this one of Saint John, her patron saint, for a chapel in the Capuchin Convent in Paris, where she had an apartment and went for periodic retreats. Gallery G308 The Putnam Dana McMillan Fund