Fountain with Two Tritons Blowing Conch Shells
Medium
Black chalk with stumping, and red chalk, heightened with white chalk on beige laid paper
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.377,"width":0.222},"secondary support":{"height":0.396,"width":0.242}}
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1952.529
Tags
About this artwork
In this early chalk drawing, François 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 etchi...