*Amours Moissonneurs* by Jean-François de Clermont

The theme of the reaping cupid originates from the world of the painter François Boucher, as evidenced by a painting that appeared at public auction (Michael Zeller auction, Lindau, 23 September 2004). Although best known for his female nudes, François Boucher also produced numerous decorative paintings featuring putti, small winged cherubs. In his countless paintings depicting goddesses , François Boucher delighted in portraying numerous individualised Cupids, in a wide variety of poses and engaged in various activities, often forming a separate scene within the painting.

In the painting by Aulteribe, the cherubs have lost their wings, as is also seen in other compositions, such as that by Hugues Taraval (1729–1785) with his *Putti with Soap Bubbles*, 1760 (Finarte auction, Milan, 9 June 1999) or Nicolas René Jollain the Younger (1732–1804) in his *Sleeping Child* of 1781 (London, Wallace Collection). At the same time, however, François Boucher produced another pair of paintings, *Les amours endormis* and *Les amours éveillés* ( Toulouse, Bemberg Collection), featuring winged children.

Jean-Jacques Lagrenée’s (1739–1821)*The Grape-Harvesting Cupids*, which went under the hammer on 21 September 2016 in Cologne (Lempertz auction), could point to an attribution to the painter for the painting, as this allegory of autumn could clearly serve as a counterpart to Aulteribe’s allegory of summer. However, the oil on panel from Cologne, which is very small in size, displays quite different characteristics in terms of both drawing and colour, the latter being much more vivid.

The style of this painting is much closer to that of Jean-François de Clermont (1717–1807), a skilled draughtsman and painter known for his pastoral scenes in the style of Boucher, but also for his putti, executed in a rather loose manner, as shown in the sketchbook of wash drawings held at the Reims Municipal Library.

A. Ananoff and D. Wildenstein, L’Opera Completa di Boucher, Milan, 1980. A. Laing, François Boucher, 1703–1770, exhibition catalogue, New York, Detroit, Paris, 1986–1987.