Landschap met een toren, in de omgeving van Beauvais 1737 - 1747

François Boucher made this landscape drawing of the area near Beauvais, France, using black chalk and stumping. Boucher was a painter in the Rococo style, whose decorations for the court of Louis XV, contributed to a culture of aristocratic excess in France. This drawing, however, seems to look elsewhere, turning away from the concerns of the court and toward the countryside. The landscape genre became increasingly popular in the eighteenth century. For some, it was simply an escape from the city, but for others, it became a source of national pride. Here, the scene is dominated by a mysterious tower that seems to suggest the presence of medieval ruins. As historians, we can't know for sure the artist's intentions, but through careful research into his life, his artistic influences, and the history of eighteenth-century France, we can begin to understand the social conditions that shaped artistic production in this period.