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 ...

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 ...

Dancing cupids, breathtaking landscapes, brawny laundrywomen, Europa's dramatic abduction and the gods of the arts urging to save the life of a dying patroness. Such is the staggering, far out ...