François Boucher – the Libertine century in vogue

One of the foremost artists of the XVIIIth century, François Boucher’s (1703-1770) rise to art market fame was rapid since, by the time he was twenty, his work had been awarded the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome.

In 1731, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, as a historical painter. Appointed ‘premier peintre du roi’ or ‘first painter of the king’ in 1765, Boucher continued to produce work at a frenetic pace until his death in 1770. His prolific career produced nearly 10,000 works: in addition to paintings, drawing and engravings he provided numerous tapestry cartoons and designs for porcelain or toile de Jouy.

Supported by commissions from the period’s great and good, such as the Marquise de Pompadour, the Comte de Vence, the Duchesse d’Orléans, etc. he was hugely popular during his lifetime and his market one of the most dynamic. Despite such a dense body of work, nearly three centuries later there is very little on the market. Scarcely thirty works come up for auction each year. Currently two-thirds of transactions involve drawings, with paintings accounting for only 20% of the pieces sold.

The most expensive works are those with erotic subjects. If the canvas is monumental, his nymphs can sometimes reach the million-euro mark. Thus, his sale record is held by Le sommeil de Vénus, a canvas measuring practically two metres in width, which was sold for GBP 1 million (EUR 1.45 million) in July 2006 by Christie’s London. It was in 1779 at the Hotel d’Aligre (Paris) that the piece was offered at auction for the first time, finding a buyer for 2,400 livres (the equivalent of EUR 226,000 today).

The landscapes or the genre scenes, which are often smaller, are also much less expensive. GBP 110,000 (EUR 159,000) would have been enough to secure Le Moulin à Eau, Landscape with a Herdsman and his Family by a Mill, a 1765 canvas measuring 51 x 66 cm at Christie’s London on 8 December 2004. Since then similar works offered with estimated ranges of above EUR 200,000 have all been bought in.

Depending on the technique, scale, subject or richness of the drawing, or even the provenance, the works on paper are subject to huge price variations. Thus, last October at Sotheby’s, an academic nude study in red chalk, some 45cm high, was sold for USD 22,500 (EUR 15,755). In June 2007, in Paris at Arcurial, Aurore et Céphale/Neptune et Anymone, a highly accomplished diptych in pencil, stump and chalk on blue paper but light damaged and with some pitting, sold for EUR 59,000. On 15 November 2006, Trois putti volant, a small sketch on blue paper went for just EUR 3,200 at Christie’s Paris. Inversely, in July 2000, Study of a Young Girl Lying on Her Front, a subtle three-crayon sketch for The Darked Haired Odalisque sold for GBP 200,000 (EUR 320,000) at Sotheby’s London.

As with his contemporaries, François Boucher’s price level remained practically unchanged throughout the 1990s. For example, Allégorie de la Guerre et de la Paix, a black lead pencil drawing acquired for the equivalent of EUR 5,800 in 1993, was resold for EUR 6,500 in 1999 at Blanchet & Joron-Derem. It was to take until 2003 for his prices to finally take off, with a +50% rise over the last four years. A number of collectors are taking advantage of this increase to try to sell pieces at very optimistic estimates. Thus on 4 July 2007, Oriental Figures seated at a table was offered at Sotheby’s London, but bought in, for GBP 15,000-20,000. The work had been purchased for USD 5,000 (GBP 3,000) in 1998 at Christie’s NY.

While the artist’s reputation is international, it is in London and New York that his works achieve the best results at auction and 80% of his proceeds are generated. Nearly 40% of transactions take place in Paris, however the works are generally of poorer quality. Few pieces achieve more than EUR 100,000. La demeure chérie, a rare pastoral scene in a rococo frame, which was auctioned for EUR 170,000 in June 2007 at Artcurial, is the last canvas presented in France to have surpassed that level.