St. Peter Invited to Walk on the Water 1766

Curator: This painting, residing here at the Château de Versailles, is "St. Peter Invited to Walk on the Water," created by François Boucher in 1766, using oil paint. The Baroque style is readily apparent. What is your initial reaction to this artwork? Editor: The ethereal nature of it strikes me first. The colour palette is muted, almost faded, and it lends a dreamlike quality to the scene, amplified by those plump cherubs floating above. Curator: It's important to consider Boucher's artistic output within the context of the French court. Boucher was Principal Painter to the King; images such as this played a role in the display of both faith and power in Louis XV's court. Think about the canvas itself, stretched, prepared, the very specific pigments painstakingly mixed and applied. Who was creating these materials, where were they being sourced? The whole support structure of this had significant implications for the French economy. Editor: That’s fascinating, especially considering how such religious themes were being used during this period. It reminds me of the Baroque era's tendency to utilize grand biblical narratives to convey messages of authority, connecting earthly power with divine approval. I wonder, did Boucher have any input from the church, or was this entirely directed by the monarchy for its own purposes? Curator: Hard to say definitively without primary source documentation; although history suggests these paintings served as emblems of a certain divine mandate asserted by the French monarchy during the 18th Century. Boucher certainly wasn't operating in a vacuum. His workshop must have been a site of considerable labor, turning raw materials into symbols of spiritual and earthly authority, feeding that royal machine. Editor: It makes one consider the socio-political dynamics woven into something seemingly pious and heavenly. Thanks for helping me view this piece with that additional context. Curator: The labor that birthed this work gives this moment meaning for me; next time perhaps we can further inspect this divine-right ideology?