Volupta was the goddess of sensual pleasure in Roman mythology whose parents were Cupid and Psyche (her name also implies willingness). In Greek mythology, Hedone was the goddess of pleasure, born from the union of Eros and Psyche—hence the word hedonism. All that frothing sensuality was certainly one of the hallmarks of 18th-century French Rococo. The archshowman of the style, François Boucher, was born in Paris in 1703. Flora Yukhnovich, born in 1990 in Norwich, England, is a contemporary abstract painter. Currently, the two are engaged in dialogue through their works at the Wallace Collection, a national museum in London that houses an extensive collection of Boucher’s paintings.
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“Flora Yukhnovich and François Boucher: The Language of the Rococo,” on view through November 3, is a bold and dashing pairing. Boucher’s pastoral scenes inspired Yukhnovich to explode color onto the canvas in voluptuous satiny curves, similar to the satin folds of the women’s 18th-century gowns. Boucher’s languorously lounging characters are at play with heady........