François Boucher at Kenwood House

Trustee of the Friends of Kenwood House, London, Helen Payne, gives an online talk on the 4 rococo paintings, 2 by François Boucher (1703 – 1770) and 2 after Boucher which hang in Kenwood House, London.

There are relatively few paintings by Boucher in London other than at the Wallace Collection, but Edward Cecil Guinness, who gave Kenwood house to the nation, acquired 3 he believed to be by Boucher in 1887 and 1888. Together with the companion 4th painting, only at Kenwood since 1991, these four ‘fêtes galantes’ hang in the Green Room at Kenwood. Helen Payne’s talk centres around the French rococo movement of the 18th century and the importance of Boucher in the French cultural canon.

Helen Payne has been actively involved with Kenwood for several years and has an MA in French and an MA in art history.

Introduction and fade out music: Les Fêtes d’Hébé by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764), first performed in 1739. Rameau was the pre-eminent French composer of the 18th Century and in 1745 became the official court musician; he composed pieces intended to entertain, with plenty of dance music emphasising sensuality and an idealised pastoral atmosphere.

Produced by Friends of Kenwood
www.friendsofkenwood.org.uk