Madame de Pompadour was a power to be reckoned with during the reign of her lover, the French king Louis XV. Born Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, she rose through the proverbial ranks at the court of ...

If you want to contemplate love (and who wouldn't?), 18th-century France isn't a bad place to start. That may be why so many people were crowding around the paintings of "La volupte du gout: French ...

On Saturday, 18th-century French history comes alive in all of its perfumed glory at the Portland Art Museum. More than 50 paintings and other related works by Francois Boucher, Jean-Honore Fragonard, ...

Boucher's "Madame de Pompadour at her Dressing Table" (1758) shows a woman who treats her face like a canvas, and also emphasizes the private locus of her power: courtiers seeking favor or offices ...