'Les Amours du Bocage' (The Bird Cage). Painted after the original work (1735) by Nicolas Lancret (French, 1690-1743) held in the permanent collection of the Alte Pinakothek Munich. Unsigned. An exceptionally fine and animated interpretation of the original with excellent fidelity and color, painted by a skilled and intuitive hand circa 1875. One of the most celebrated Rococo painters of the early 18th-century, Lancret produced fêtes galantes and conversation pieces in a style similar to that of Jean-Antoine Watteau. Like his English contemporary, Hogarth, Lancret's reputation was enhanced by popular hand-colored engravings made after his paintings. The son of a coachman, Lancret first studied with Pierre Dulin, a history painter, and then with Claude Gillot. Lancret was received into the Academy in 1719 with a Watteauesque 'Conversation Galante'. After the deaths of Watteau (1721) and Gillot (1722), Lancret received increased acclaim, receiving his first royal commission in 1725.