{
"data": {
"id": 130150,
"accession_number": "1952.529",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells, c. 1736. Fran\u00e7ois Boucher (French, 1703\u20131770). Black chalk with stumping, and red chalk, heightened with white chalk on beige laid paper; sheet: 37.7 x 22.2 cm (14 13/16 x 8 3/4 in.); secondary support: 39.6 x 24.2 cm (15 9/16 x 9 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1952.529",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells",
"creation_date": "c. 1736",
"creation_date_earliest": 1731,
"creation_date_latest": 1741,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France, 18th century"
],
"technique": "Black chalk with stumping, and red chalk, heightened with white chalk on beige laid paper",
"support_materials": [
{
"description": "beige(1) laid paper, laid down on beige laid paper",
"watermarks": []
}
],
"department": "Drawings",
"collection": "DR - French",
"type": "Drawing",
"measurements": "Sheet: 37.7 x 22.2 cm (14 13/16 x 8 3/4 in.); Secondary Support: 39.6 x 24.2 cm (15 9/16 x 9 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.377,
"height_inch": 14,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"width": 0.222,
"width_inch": 8,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.75
},
"secondary support": {
"height": 0.396,
"height_inch": 15,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5625,
"width": 0.242,
"width_inch": 9,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.5
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "lower left, in brown ink: Boucher; secondary support, in graphite: [195?]; verso of secondary support, upper center, in brown ink: M / No. 53; center, in graphite: B / [illegible]\r\n",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301678,
"title": "Italian and French Drawings",
"description": "Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960).",
"opening_date": "1959-10-13T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 361403,
"title": "The Eighteenth Century: One Hundred Drawings by One Hundred Artists",
"description": "The Eighteenth Century: One Hundred Drawings by One Hundred Artists. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (January 24-March 7, 1961).",
"opening_date": "1961-01-24T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 361355,
"title": "French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections",
"description": "French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (September 2-October 15, 1972); Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (September 2-October 15, 1972); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.,, Canada (November 3-December 17, 1972); The New York Cultural Center, New York, NY (April 4-May 13, 1973).",
"opening_date": "1972-09-02T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 360893,
"title": "Fran\u00e7ois Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings",
"description": "Fran\u00e7ois Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (December 23, 1973-March 15, 1974); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (April 1-May 20, 1974).",
"opening_date": "1973-12-23T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 304545,
"title": "18th Century Master Drawings",
"description": "18th Century Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 6-November 22, 1981).",
"opening_date": "1981-10-06T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 361404,
"title": "Fran\u00e7ois Boucher",
"description": "Fran\u00e7ois Boucher. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (April 24-June 23, 1982).",
"opening_date": "1982-04-24T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 309655,
"title": "National Schools of Style",
"description": "National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983).",
"opening_date": "1983-06-14T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 310008,
"title": "Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention",
"description": "Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-May 17, 1987).",
"opening_date": "1987-04-07T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 311734,
"title": "Treasures on Paper",
"description": "Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988).",
"opening_date": "1988-05-10T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 310251,
"title": "Rococo, Revolution, Restoration",
"description": "Rococo, Revolution, Restoration. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989).",
"opening_date": "1989-07-11T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 311635,
"title": "French Drawings from the Collection",
"description": "French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).",
"opening_date": "1994-12-13T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 192019,
"title": "Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).",
"opening_date": "2000-08-27T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 282301,
"title": "Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings",
"description": "Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).",
"opening_date": "2016-07-16T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 665048,
"title": "Imagination in the Age of Reason",
"description": "Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).",
"opening_date": "2024-09-28T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Possibly Gabriel Huquier [1695-1772], Paris",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-1771?",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(his sale, Paris, Tableaux, Gouaches, Desseins...du Cabinet de M. ***, 1771, no. 89)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"As \"Quatorze desseins de fontaines, cartouches &c. par Boucher\"
"
],
"date": "1771",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(possibly sale, Paris, Tableaux...composant le cabinet de M. Rochaz, February 11, 1856, no. 3)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"A group of four drawings described as fountain designs by Boucher in \"encre de Chine, ex\u00e9cut\u00e9s \u00e0 la plume et teint\u00e9s de couleur\" are listed under lot 3 in this sale. The composition of the Cleveland drawing is clearly described (\"Dans le second, ce sont des dauphins qui soutiennent dans une vasque des tritons qui lancent de l'eau par leurs conques\"). However, the disparity of media suggests the Rochaz work was possibly a copy after the Huquier print. The description of it as \"tinted with color\" does not suggest a drawing by Boucher.
"
],
"date": "1856",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Probably M. Marmontel",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-1883",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "(Hotel Drouot, Paris, Aquarelles et Dessins...composant la collection de M. Marmontel, January 25-26, 1883, no. 44)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"As \"Projet de fontaine. Crayon. Haut., 35 cent., larg.; 22 cent.\"
"
],
"date": "1883",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "Possibly \"M[onsieur] S.\"",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "after 1883-1896",
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "(Hotel Drouot, Paris, Dessins Anciens et Modernes...Appartenant \u00e0 M. S..., June 1, 1896, no. 2)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1896",
"sortorder": 7
},
{
"description": "Franz Lederer [1899-2000], Palm Springs, CA",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-?",
"sortorder": 8
},
{
"description": "(Erich Lederer, Geneva, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-1952",
"sortorder": 9
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1952-",
"sortorder": 10
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "While translating this drawing into etching, the printmaker Gabriel Huquier replaced Boucher's grotto setting with an architectural niche.",
"description": "In this early chalk drawing, Fran\u00e7ois Boucher combined plants, dolphins, rocks, shells, and tritons (mythological creatures that are part man and part fish) into a design that was meant to suggest a fountain in a rocky garden grotto. This sheet represents l'art rocaille, or \"rock and shell art,\" a style of ornament that developed in France during the 1730s and featured decorative compositions with abundant detail. The image was one of seven that the printmaker Gabriel Huquier translated as etchings around the time Boucher completed them. These reproductions helped to bring Boucher's work to a broader audience, including other artists who emulated his style.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79911893"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1952.529-fountain-with-two-tr"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Michel, Andr\u00e9. Fran\u00e7ois Boucher. Paris: L'\u00c9dition d'Art, H. Piazza et Cie, 1906.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 141, no. 2554",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "\"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April - June 1953.\" Art Quarterly 16, no. 4 (Winter 1953): 346-365.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 353",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 594",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n111"
},
{
"citation": "In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: no. 117",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Thomas, Hylton. The Eighteenth Century: One Hundred Drawings by One Hundred Artists. Exh. Cat. Minneapolis: University of Minnesoty, 1961.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 18, no. 6; Reproduced: plate I",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 135",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n159"
},
{
"citation": "Ananoff, Alexandre. L'Oeuvre dessin\u00e9 de Fran\u00e7ois Boucher (1703-1770): catalogue raisonn\u00e9. Paris: F. de Nobele, 1966",
"page_number": "Mentioned: no. 968?",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 135",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n159"
},
{
"citation": "Rosenberg, Pierre. French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Exh. Cat. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1972.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 136-137, no. 12; Reproduced: plate 85",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Slatkin, Regina Shoolman. Fran\u00e7ois Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings. Exh. Cat. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1973.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 38, no. 29",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Ananoff, Alexandre. Fran\u00e7ois Boucher. Lausanne: La Biblioth\u00e8que des Arts, 1976.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 11",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 177",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n197"
},
{
"citation": "Jean-Richard, Pierrette. L'Oeuvre grav\u00e9 de Fran\u00e7ois Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild. Paris: \u00c9ditions des Mus\u00e9es Nationaux, 1978.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 274, under no. 1096",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sutton, Denys. Fran\u00e7ois Boucher. Exh. Cat. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1982.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 189, 245, no. 83; Reproduced: p. 113",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Landau, Ellen G. \u201c\u2018A Fairytale Circumstance\u2019 the Influence of Stage Design on the Work of Fran\u00e7ois Boucher.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 9 (November 1983): 360\u2013378.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 367-368, fig. 12",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159834"
},
{
"citation": "DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 8, pp. 100-101, 288, no. 36; Reproduced: p. 101",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Prat, Louis-Antoine. Le dessin franc\u0327ais au XVIIIe sie\u0300cle. Paris: Louvre \u00e9ditions: Somogy, 2017.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 174, no. 293",
"url": null
}
],
"catalogue_raisonne": "Michel 2554?; Ananoff 968?",
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"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
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"athena_id": 130150,
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{
"id": 1888,
"description": "Fran\u00e7ois Boucher (French, 1703\u20131770)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "French Rococo artist who epitomizes the frivolous and elegant court life of France in the mid-18th century. During his early career he was closely associated with Watteau, many of whose paintings he engraved. Boucher was a successful and incredibly prolific artistic who had a major impact on both fine and decorative art of the 18th century. He is particularly noted for having reinvented the genre of the pastoral, creating images of shepherds and shepherdesses as sentimental lovers that was taken up in a variety of medium. Boucher's sketchy manner of painting helped to promote painterliness as an end in itself. This trend dominated French painting until the emergence of Neoclassicism, when the tides of criticism turned against Boucher and his followers.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1703",
"death_year": "1770",
"use_in_caption": true,
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"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1952-12-26T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1731,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1736",
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"is_nazi_era_provenance": true,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"The Fountain"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-06-03 11:06:03.988000"
}
}