The Youthful Vendor
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Bequest of Erskine Hewitt
Accession Number
1938-57-243
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
François Boucher’s *The Youthful Vendor* (1757) captures the graceful charm that defined French Rococo art in the mid-eighteenth century. As one of the leading painters at the court of Louis XV, Boucher specialized in elegant figure studies and lighthearted genre scenes that celebrated youth, beauty, and everyday pleasures. Created during the height of his career, this work reflects the period’s taste for intimate, decorative subjects that brought a sense of refined playfulness to aristocratic interiors. Though the medium remains unspecified, the classification as a “figure” suggests Boucher ...