The Cherry Picker (Country Romances) - Baudouin

Booklet from the 1765 Salon :

"By M. Baudouin, Academician.
97. Several small subjects & portraits in miniature, under the same number.
Several small gouache paintings."

Diderot's commentary:

"Baudouin
Good boy, who has figure, sweetness, wit, a bit of a libertine; but what's that to me? My wife is over forty-five, and neither he nor his compositions will go near my daughter. There were a number of small paintings by Baudouin at the Salon, and all the young girls, after having strolled their distracted gazes over a few pictures, ended their rounds at the spot where we saw the Paysanne querellée par sa mère, and the Cueilleur de cerises; it was for this bay that they had reserved all their attention. At a certain age, you'd rather read a free book than a good one, and you'd rather stop in front of a trashy painting than a good one. There are even old men who are punished for the continuity of their debaucheries by the sterile taste they have retained. Some of these old men were also dragging themselves, crutch in hand, back arched, glasses on the nose, to Baudouin's little infamies. [...] On a tree, we see a tall gardener picking cherries. At the foot of the tree, a young peasant girl is ready to receive them in her apron: another peasant girl, seated on the ground, watches the picker; between her and the tree, a donkey loaded with baskets, grazes. The gardener has thrown his handful of cherries into the peasant woman's lap; all that's left in his hand are two coupled on the same tail, which holds them suspended on the middle finger. Bad point, flat and crude idea; but I'll say my opinion of it all at the end. " (Bouquins, p. 371-373)