François Boucher

François Boucher is the painter most identified with French Rococo: pink and pearly nudes, plump cupids, pastoral lovers and goddesses lounging on silk and cloud, all painted in soft pastel colour with a light, flickering brush. His pictures were designed to delight, and they defined the taste of an age.

Born in Paris in 1703, the son of a painter, he trained with François Lemoyne and won the Prix de Rome in 1720. He was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1731, rose to lead it, and in 1765 was named First Painter to the King. Madame de Pompadour was his great patron, and he painted her portrait several times. He also designed tapestries for the Beauvais and Gobelins workshops, as well as stage sets and decorations. His Diana Leaving Her Bath (1742) is in the Louvre. He died in Paris in 1770.

In Diana Leaving Her Bath, look at how he works a whole scale of cool and warm whites across the fabrics and skin.