These two early compositions, La Simplicité and Jeune berger tenant une fleur, were originally in the collection of the marquise de Pompadour. In 1756 her brother, the marquis de Marigny, Director General of the King's Buildings, commissioned from Greuze two oval paintings destined for the apartment of the marquise at Versailles, leaving the choice of subject to the artist. Despite the importance of such a commission, Greuze did not exactly rush to finish the paintings; the first was completed only three years later, and the second four or five.
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| La Simplicité, 1759. |
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| Jeune berger qui tente le sort pour savoir s'il est aimé de sa bergère, or Jeune berger tenant une fleur, circa 1760-61. |
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They've long been separated, les très jeunes énamourés; the girl is in the collection of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, while the boy is held in that of the Petit Palais, Paris. But coincidentally, at the time of this writing, the two have been temporarily reunited in Paris for an exhibition of Greuze's work.
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