Date: 1745
Materials: Oil on canvas
Measurements: 98.5 x 132 cm
Inv. No: P445

Originally, this painting, along with Erigone Conquered, was part of a series of four overdoor panels depicting the Seasons, all sharing the same shape and perspective. These works were engraved by Charles Duflos in 1751.

Their specific shape and low viewing angle indicate that they were designed as overdoor decorations to be embedded within ornate wall paneling. As is characteristic of Francois Boucher’s (1703-1770) work, the scenes combine pastoral themes with classical mythology.

Pastoral Make-up, or Spring, sets the act of dressing in a pastoral scene, where one shepherdess adjusts another’s coiffure in a landscape populated by cherubic cupids, a small dog, and a straw hat, suggesting innocence and playfulness. Autumn is represented through an Ovidian tale of seduction featuring Erigone as an Arcadian princess.

Her admirer, Bacchus, appears disguised as a cluster of grapes offered to her, a clever allusion to mythological seduction. Summer portrays three shepherdesses and their flock, conversing in an idyllic landscape, while Winter shifts back to mythology, depicting the goddess Diana returning from the hunt.