François Boucher
Female Nude on a Dolphin
c. 1730 - 1740
prints & drawings
Boucher made several drawings of naked women who posed for him in his studio. That this drawing is a study from life is apparent from Boucher's experiments with the position of the woman's left arm, which is unfinished. The woman straddles a dolphin's head, suggesting that she is a naiad or water nymph. In his paintings Boucher toned down the erotic element in nude studies of this type.
