Observations placeholder
Boucher's three graces
Identifier
007542
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Les trois Grâces supportant l'Amour
François BOUCHER; Paris, 1703 - Paris, 1770
Standing on the terrestrial Globe, the Three Graces, ordinarily Venus’s partners, support Love who holds up two torches. The allegorical subject is overwhelmed by the sensuality of the voluptuous bodies, a glorification of the female body which made Boucher a celebrity.
The three graces
Gentle grace, spiritual grace, elegant grace
Or maybe
Kind grace, refined grace, poised and charming grace
Well, take your pick
They are above basic instincts such as passion lust
……………..
Well maybe
And there they are entwined
Standing on the earth
As if they’ve conquered
Those earthy, fundamental, fleshy longings
Squashed all carnal thoughts
Banished the basics of everyday
Risen above them to a higher more elevated plane.
They stand on the earth
Therefore they rise above its nature
…………….
Well maybe
But look at their bodies, flesh pink and voluptuous
Sublime
Spiritual? Perhaps more seductive than spiritual
So not spiritual, a hint even of the salacious
Of the pleasures of the flesh
And look how they and love cavort together
No spiritual union this
So something perhaps more of this earth?
…………………
Well maybe
Perhaps in the end their torches
Show that no one can conquer our fundamental natures
The need to be one with another
Just one
There is only ever the need to be one with one other
So two torches
One for you
One for me
An eternal flame of passion
The fire of desire
Lust longing burning and engulfing us
So is love above all earthly passion?
………………………
Well maybe
But who would want it
A description of the experience
