Studio of François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770)

This painting derives from a lost, early work by François Boucher that is recorded in a print by René Gaillard, entitled Le Moineau apprivoisé ('The Tame Sparrow'; see A. Ananoff, L'opera completa di Boucher, Milan, 1980, p. 89, no. 57). The present picture is in a reverse sense to the print, and must have been painted directly from the prototype, possibly as an overdoor.