Louis-Léopold Boilly was a businessman. He saw that there was a bob or two to be made in creating bawdy, naughty paintings for the turn of the nineteenth century bourgeoisie, and he went in hard. The result here in this small free display is a funny, kinky, silly vision of posh Parisian life, like ‘Made in Chelsea’ for revolutionary France.
Boilly made (very) soft-porn paintings for the rich. One shows two damsels lifting their dresses to reveal their (gasp!) stockings, another shows two ladies having a snog, their dresses falling around their shoulders. Matron!
But he also depicted everyday Parisian life and painted portraits on the (relatively) cheap. His rosy-cheeked, sharp-nosed figures are heaving masses of fun and life.
But the real take-away here is that Boilly was actually staggeringly skilful. The last three works in the show are breathtaking, and totally ditch the nudging and winking in favour of unbelievable draughtsmanship. The two monochromatic portraits of young women are nuanced, full of atmosphere and clashing and contrasting shadows. The last is a trompe l’oeil crucifix, made to look 3D with Boilly’s business card seemingly tacked on. All of these are Boilly showing off, and damn he was good.
Between the skill and bawdy humour on display, Boilly comes across as something you never knew you needed: a delightful halfway point between artistic excellence and seaside postcard.
