Crossing the Bridge, c.1730 Francois Boucher (1703-1770)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Francois Boucher also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting Crossing the Bridge is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

After adding your artwork to the shopping cart, you will be able to check the delivery price using the Estimate Shipping and Tax tool.

The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

Let’s be honest - when you think of François Boucher, you likely picture frothy, pastel nymphs lounging in rococo gardens, not this intriguing "Crossing the Bridge" from 1730. Here, Boucher dials down the sugary sweetness for something a bit earthier, though no less theatrical. We’re in a bucolic countryside where time meanders as slowly as the stream under the rickety wooden bridge.

The scene presents a humble moment - cattle, sheep, and a young woman on horseback crossing a bridge while a child guides the herd. It’s pastoral, sure, but it’s also suffused with a kind of storybook grandeur. The landscape around them almost seems to rise like a stage set - the jagged cliffs, crumbling architecture, and distant towers pull the eye deeper into this rural idyll. The sky, tinged with azure and wisps of cloud, hints at a balmy, quiet evening.

Boucher’s palette is far from the syrupy pinks and baby blues we expect. Instead, we get soft greens and browns for the landscape, cool blues for the sky and water, and a few splashes of brighter color - like the woman’s red bodice or the boy’s cap - to animate the scene. His brushwork here is smooth yet a bit looser than in his more famous later works. You can see a casual elegance in the way he renders the tree, almost twisting in the wind, and the delicate ripples in the water.

Compositionally, everything funnels toward that little bridge. It’s a passage, a metaphor maybe - transition, journey, all that poetic stuff - but also a device that draws our attention to the simplicity and beauty of this quiet moment. Boucher plays with depth effortlessly, making sure your eyes wander through every corner of his carefully choreographed countryside.