Boucher and Chardin: seductive riot of detail

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Both paintings are so-called "genre scenes", depicting modish youngwomen in domestic interiors. Both were once thought to be portraitsof the artists' wives. But, even though they were painted onlyeight years apart, the two pictures could hardly be more differentin style or tone.
Boucher presents a coquettish young woman lost in a daydream aftershe has put down a billet-doux. Her sumptuous boudoir is a treasuretrove of trifles and trinkets in disarray, and the painting servesas a fascinating record of French fashions of the time.
In particular, it attests to the mania in France circa 1740 for allthings oriental: to characterise just how chic this woman is,Boucher includes a lacquered hanging cupboard containing a figurinerepresenting an Eastern god of good luck and a blue-and-white teaset, as well as a lush - and no doubt expensive - folding screen.The riot of detail is seductive, almost overwhelming.
Switch your focus to Chardin's Lady Taking Tea, though, and yousense a shift from a highly accomplished picture to a great one.Chardin's painting is a much more muted, delicate and less playfulaffair - but it is brilliant at mood and at capturing thepsychology of its sitter. In this sense, it feels almostunbelievably modern.