An original early 20th-century pastel drawing Diana Bathing after François Boucher.

An impressive large pastel drawing, sensitively recreating François Boucher's celebrated oil painting of 1742 (now in the Louvre).

Diana, goddess of the hunt and the moon, is depicted here, not as a strong bow-wielding huntress, but rather naked and innocent, at her bath, assisted by a lovely nymph. Boucher, a proponent of Rococo taste and master of the flirtatious and erotic, has reimagined the mythological scene in a way which explores the sensuous beauties of the female body. As a symbol of chastity, Boucher is able to play up Diana's innocence as a foil against charges of impropriety.

The choice of pastel in the present drawing creates an appropriately soft-focused effect, and allows for fresh colouration—capturing the playfulness and youthful luminosity of Boucher's subject.

The drawing was possibly creating around the first decade of the 20th century, during which time Rococo was in a revival period that in turn influenced the contemporary style movement of Art Nouveau.

On laid paper.