Adolphe William Bouguereau was born in 1825 in La Rochelle on the west coast of France. As a boy he began to show talent in his early drawings. He wanted to attend art school but his parents wanted him to work in their business. It was a client of theirs who convinced them to send him to school at Bordeaux’s School of Fine Arts.
After Bordeaux he needed money to go on to Paris for further training. His uncle convinced his parishioners to have their
portraits painted. The money from this and a loan from an Aunt gave him his chance. The investment would prove to be a wise
one. He would study drawing at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris and would learn painting from an established artist,
Francois-Edouard Picot. Winning the Grand Prix of Rome in 1850 earned him a chance to visit Italy to study the works of
Italian masters and learn classical styles.
Bouguereau was to be a staunch supporter of the classical art forms and his early successes were based on historical and mythological themes. In 1854 he was awarded portrait and decorative commissions and succeeded in large paintings displayed and sold both in the Paris Salon and in the open market. He gained many commissions to decorate interiors of churches and government buildings. However, government support for this type of work was curtailing and he needed to find new ways to earn income from his art.
Americans were beginning to accumulate wealth and collect art. Fortunately for Bouguereau they were eager for his depictions of youth, pastoral family scenes, the poor, and passionately animated biblical and mythological themes.
Realism runs throughout his work. In all of his subjects, whether a peasant girl, an angel or a mythical satyr the image is wholly believable. Drawing was essential. He would make many preliminary sketches in both pencil and watercolor with detail sketches of a face, hands or feet. He never missed an opportunity to show his ability to render exquisite hands and feet.
He was so tied to the image, he would often be at a loss to title a painting. Even the work he considered his masterpiece had the unassuming title "The Donkey Ride", which his dealer renamed "Return from the Harvest".
Bouguereau was not only appreciated by the public but often honored by the established leaders of the art world. However, art critics continue to this day to deride him for appealing to the unrefined and sentimental tastes of the ignorant masses. The critics of his time were caught up in the wave of great impressionists and felt that he was wasting his talents (talents which not even his harshest critics could deny). In a moment of reflection, one of these lifelong detractors admitted that Bouguereau showed more skill in the simple sketch of a hand than most artists would display in a lifetime.
All of his work would deal with the human figure; no still lifes, no landscapes. He felt no need to paint anything other
than the form that (in his words) “ ... has given us so many masterpieces.'' The people in his pictures, whatever the scene, are always
lovely. No matter how unsettling, passionate or sad the subject, they are always approachable, always truly beautiful.
Although his private life tended to remain private, we know that he joined the National Guard during the Franco-Prussian war in 1846, and in 1856 he married Marie-Nelly Monchablon about whom little is known. With Nelly he had 5 children, three sons and two daughters. They chose to live near the School of Fine Arts and the center of the art world rather than in the center of Parisian social life.
Life, even for a successful man, was not easy in the nineteenth century. In 1872 a daughter died in infancy, son George died in 1875 at age 16. Nelly, his wife, died in 1877 followed only 2 months later by the infant son William. In 1900 he lost his son Adolphe-Paul to tuberculosis. Images of some of his deceased family members appear in some of his most compelling paintings; George in “Pieta” and Nelly and William in "The Virgin of Consolation".
His painting kept him going, it was his joy in life. He once told a journalist for the Boston Evening Transcript: "Each day I go to my studio full of joy; in the evening when obliged to stop because of the darkness I can scarcely wait for the next morning to come ... My work is not only a pleasure, it has become a necessity. No matter how many other things I have in my life, if I cannot give myself to my dear painting I am miserable."
The year of his wife's death he expressed his wish to marry Elizabeth Jane Gardner, an American artist and student of his. His daughter threatened to join a convent and his mother, who lived with the family, strongly objected. They became secretly engaged but remained unmarried until his mother's death in 1896, nearly twenty years after Nelly's death.
It is believed that Elizabeth did not paint during their marriage, but after her husband's death in La Rochelle in 1905, she began painting again and chose to continue in his style. In an interview in 1910 she said, "I know I'm censored for not more boldly asserting my individuality, but I would rather be known as the best imitator of Bouguereau than be nobody!"
Our collecting began with no particular interests or background in art. Working on the air conditioning at the Victorian Sampler gift shop I was intrigued by a print of a young girl looking off thoughtfully as her hands work needle and thread. The next morning I returned and purchased the print called "The Young Seamstress".
After finding an incredible monogram of a three museum show from 1982 we realized we were hooked. We began seeking out prints, posters and any thing else about Bouguereau. Our collection now amounts to twenty eight framed prints and posters and dozens of books, calendars and post cards.
Our interest has taken us to museums in the U. S., Great Britain and France to seek out and admire his originals. The San Antonio Museum of Art has "Admiration", a large salon painting (about 5 feet by 7 feet) that we were able to visit in 1996. We had assumed that his brush strokes that don't show up on the prints would be visible on the original. There are no visible strokes. The finish is smooth and the image seems almost photographic; only better, cleaner, purer than real life.. especially life in the nineteenth century. A closer inspection only reveals more detail, smooth muscle, the texture of fabrics and the faint colors of blood vessels through translucent skin. The only hint of a paintbrush at work is the spray of bright colors that make up the petals in the tiny bouquet.
Our infatuation doesn't seem to be dimming. We never tire of having these wonderful images around us and each time we find another title we are delighted. I have a feeling Bouguereau will continue to delight us for a long time. His genius for commercially successful paintings and a love for what he did resulted in over 800 completed works.
Click on the links below for more information
A list of his original paintings and where to see them
( Be sure to contact the exhibitor to find out if a particular painting is on display)
Admiration / 1897 / San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Adoration of the Shepherds, The / 1884 / Church of Saint Vincent de Paul, Paris, France
All Soul's Day / 1858 / Musee de Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France
Arion on Sea Creature / 1855 / Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Art and Literature /1867 / Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York, USA
At the Foot of the Cliff/1866/ Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Bathers, The / 1884 / Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Between Love and Riches / 1869 / Andrew Stone Collection, Brentwood, California, USA
Birth of Venus / 1879 / Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France
Bohemian, The / 1890 / Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Breton Brother and Sister / 1871 / Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA
Broken Pitcher, The / 1891 / Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco, California, USA
Brotherly Love / 1854 / Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Captive, The / 1891 / Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA
Charity / 1878 / Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, England, USA
Child at Bath / 1886 /Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, USA
Childhood Idyll / 1900 / Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA
Cupidon / 1891 / Roy Miles Gallery, London, England
Dance, The / 1854 / Musee Petite Palais, Paris, France
Decorations / 1865 /Saint Augustine Church, Paris, France
Decorations / 1859 / Chapel of Saint Louis, St. Cotilde Church, Paris, France
Donkey Ride (Return from the Harvest) / 1878 / Cummer Museum, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Don't Stir (By Elizabeth Garner)/1883/Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Early Morning / 1857 / Musee de Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France
Evening Mood / 1882 / National Museum of Art, Havana, Cuba
Evening Prayer / / Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Far from Home / 1867 / Museo de Artes, Ponce, Puerto Rico
First Mourning / 1888 / Museo Nacianal de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Flora and Zephyr / 1875 / Musee de Beaux-Arts, Mulhouse, France
Fortune / 1855 / US Embassy, Paris, France
Friendship / 1855 / US Embassy, Paris, France
Girl and Child / 1877/ Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA (no longer in collection)
Girl Eating Porridge / / Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Girl Holding Lemons / 1899 / Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Girl with Apple / 1905 / Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, USA
Girl / 1895 / Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Girl / 1868 / Musee J. P. Pescatore, Luxembourg
Going to the Well / 1893 / Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Homer and His Guide / 1874 / Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Idyll: Family from Antiquity / 1860 / Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Indigent Family / 1865 / Birmingham Art Gallery, Birmingham, England
Innocence / 1861 / Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Inspiration / 1898 / Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences, Columbus, Georgia, USA
Italian Shepherdess / / Clive House Museum, Shrewsbury, England
Jesus Meeting His Mother / 1888 / Church of Saint Vincent de Paul, Paris, France
Knitting Girl, The / 1869 / Joslyn Museum of Art, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Little Beggar Girls / 1890 / University Art Collection, Syracuse, New York, USA
Love / 1855 / US Embassy, Paris, France
Lullaby / 1873 / Andrew Stone Collection, Brentwood, California, USA
Madonna with Saint John the Baptist, 1882 / Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithica, NY
Marguerite / 1868 / Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Meditation / 1885 / Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Mother and Two Children /1865/ Herbert F Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithica, NY
Nut Gatherers, The / 1882 / Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Nymphaeum (Nymphs Bathing) / 1878 / The Haggin Museum, Stockton, California, USA
Nymphs and Satyr / 1873 / Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA
Ocean Nymph / 1905 / Musee de Beaux-Arts, La Rochelle, France
Orestes Pursued by the Furies / 1862 / The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Philomela and Progne / 1861 / Chateau, Fountainbleau, France
Pieta / 1876 / Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Portrait of Mme la comtesse of Combaceres / 1895 / Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA
Portrait of Elizabeth Jane Gardner / 1879 / Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec
Portrait of Mgr Leon-Benoit-Charles Thomas / 1877 / Louvre, Paris, France
Psyche and Eros / 1889 / Tasmanian Museum and Gallery, Hobart, Australia
Reflection/1893/Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
Rest in Harvest / 1865 / Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Return of Spring, The / 1886 / Joslyn Museum of Art, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Self Portrait / 1895 / Uffizi, Florence, Italy
Shell, The / 1871 / Museum Willet-Holthuysen, Herengracht 605, Amsterdam, Nederlands
Shepherdess, The / 1873 / Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA
Sisters on the Shore / 1896 / Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Song of the Angels / 1881/ Forest Lawn Memorial Park Museum, Glendale, California, USA
Song of the Nightingale / 1895 / Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio, USA
Soul Brought Heaven / 1878 / Musee de Perigord, Perigord, France
Story Book, The / 1877/ Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
Study of girl's head / / Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Temptation / 1880 / Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Thank Offering / 1867 / Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
The Elder Sister / 1863 / Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA
The Flagellation of Christ / 1880 / Cathedral of La Rochelle, La Rochelle, France
The Guardian Angel / 1877 / UCLA, Westwood, California, USA
The Shepherdess/1881/Frye Art Museum/Seattle, Washington USA
Tobias Saying Farewell to His Father / 1860 / Hermitage, Leningrad, Russia
Triumph of Galatea / 1853 / Musee Dijon, Dijon, France
Triumph of the Martyr / 1853 / Musee Municipal, Luneville, France
Two Children on a Hill / 1881 / Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park, New York, USA
Virgin and Child / 1888 / Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Virgin of Consolation / 1877 / Musee de la Ville de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
Washerwomen of Fouesnant / 1869 / University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
Whisperings of Love / 1889 / New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Woman with an Iris / / University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Work Interrupted / 1891 / Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, New York, USA
Young Girl / 1886 / Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
Young Girl Defending Herself from Eros / 1880 / University North Carolina, Wilmington, USA
Young Girl / 1868 / Snite Museum, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Young Girl / 1898 / Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Young Shepherdess / 1885 / San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, USA
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