François Boucher: where to see him across these museums

Trained first by his own painter father, then at the French Academy in Rome, Boucher returned to Paris around 1731 and rose quickly through royal favour. He became Madame de Pompadour’s drawing teacher and painted her portrait repeatedly — seven times by one count — cementing a reputation for elegant mythological and pastoral scenes tailored to aristocratic taste.

The relationship paid off in official titles: professor of drawing and engraving to Pompadour in 1751, and Premier Peintre du Roi — first painter to the king — in 1765. His pink-and-blue mythologies and boudoir scenes defined the Rococo style, though they fell out of fashion within a generation as Neoclassicism took hold. He died in Paris in 1770.

Boucher paintings on display, museum by museum

Rooms and display status checked against each museum’s own collection database.

Listen to the commentary in the gallery

This list tells you where to look. In front of the actual painting, CulturAll adds the audio commentary: photograph the work or its label, listen, then ask your questions.