François Boucher’s ‘Resting Girl’

Boucher’s Resting Girl (1752) is a masterpiece of rococo painting and, to modern sensibilities, a troubling scene: the model, Marie-Louise O’Murphy, was only 14 when Boucher painted her nude, sprawled over an unmade couch. King Louis XV was so enamoured with the work that he made O’Murphy his youngest mistress. Two versions of the painting exist, the first of which was produced in 1751 and is held in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne. In this display, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich is putting its version, painted in 1752, in the spotlight as part of its ‘All Eyes On’ exhibition series, which explores in depth a single work or a small group of works (18 February–6 July). The painting has recently been restored and this display highlights the complexities of conservation and provides historical context to the painting, as well as trying to understand what we don’t know about this enigmatic work.

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Find out more from the Alte Pinakothek’s website

Resting Girl (1752), François Boucher. Photo: Nicole Wilhelms; © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen – Alte Pinakothek München