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Shepherd Boy Playing Bagpipes

François Boucher (French, 1703–1770)
about 1754

Medium/Technique Oil on canvas
Dimensions Overall: 55.2 x 49.8cm (21 3/4 x 19 5/8in.)
Framed: 72.7 x 66.7 x 6.7 cm (28 5/8 x 26 1/4 x 2 5/8 in.)
Credit Line Given in memory of Governor Alvan T. Fuller by the Fuller Foundation
Accession Number61.958
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Playful pastoral scenes, like the one in this painting, feature prominently in the designs Boucher created for tapestries, prints, and porcelain services. This image of a little shepherd boy playing the bagpipes to a small spaniel was reproduced in a wide array of forms. In addition to etchings and copies, the motif was used for a series of tapestries called Boucher’s Children created by the Parisian Gobelins manufactory. It was also adapted into a porcelain figure and a design for the top of a snuffbox.

ProvenanceBaron Adolphe de Rothschild (b. 1823 - d. 1900), Paris. Vicomte Jacques de Causon, Paris. S.J. Frank, New York; sold by Frank to to William Salomon (b. 1852 - d. 1919), New York; April 5, 1923, Salomon estate sale, American Art Association, New York, lot 381, to Otto Bernet, New York [see note 1]. By 1928, Alvan Tufts Fuller (b. 1878 - d. 1958), Boston; 1959, to the Alvan T. Fuller Foundation, Inc.; 1961, gift of the Fuller Foundation to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 20, 1961)

NOTES:
[1] He may have been buying for Alvan Tufts Fuller.