Landscape with a Water Mill (Paysage aux environs de Beauvais et Souvenir d’Italie), 1740. François Boucher. Oil on canvas. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust.
French 18th-century painters would often allude to the work of their 17th-century predecessors. Here, Boucher refers to landscapes by the French classical painter Claude Lorrain. Both paintings feature a water mill balanced by trees on the opposite side of the composition. Furthermore, in this landscape Boucher includes a temple in the distance that is based on the Temple of the Sybil at Tivoli, another favorite classical Claudian motif. Compared to his 17th-century predecessor, Boucher applies paint more thickly, in lighter strokes, resulting in a lush, decorative density typical of the Rococo.
