The Old Savoyard n.d.

François Boucher made this etching of The Old Savoyard, a street performer, sometime in the mid-18th century. But what can we tell about French society by looking at it? Boucher was at the height of his Rococo fame, producing decorative paintings for the court of Louis XV that celebrated love, beauty, and leisure. Yet here he represents a traveling entertainer from the Savoy region, in the Alps. The Savoyard walks the roads of France with his shadow box or peep show on his back. What’s interesting here is the way in which Boucher’s image creates meaning through visual codes of class. Consider that Boucher was closely associated with the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He won the prestigious Prix de Rome and later became the Academy's director. So why turn his attention to a poor traveling performer? Scholars of social history might see in this image the seeds of the coming French Revolution, when the aristocratic class idealizing rural life would be overthrown.