# Are They Thinking about the Grape? (Pensent-ils au raisin?)

- By: François Boucher (French, 1703–1770)
- Date: 1747
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Oval: 80.8 × 68.5 cm (31 3/4 × 27 in.); Framed: 96.6 × 84.5 × 11.5 cm (38 × 33 1/4 × 4 1/2 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Martha E. Leverone Endowment
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/44742)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/12662645-5164-4bb1-cfec-3517a4c9779c/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This painting is based on a 1745 pantomime about a young shepherd’s awakening love for a shepherdess. The couple feed each other grapes—a fruit associated with Bacchus, god of pleasure—suggesting that their encounter is not entirely chaste. François Boucher’s compositions on pastoral themes comprise his most influential contribution to 18th-century French art. These lush and playful fantasies of rustic life, designed primarily for the private enjoyment of wealthy financiers and aristocrats, had little to do with the social realities of rural labor during the period.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0