William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French
academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used
mythological themes, making modern interpretations of
classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body.
During his life, he enjoyed significant popularity in France and the United States, was given numerous official honors, and received top prices for his work.
As the quintessential salon painter of his generation, he was reviled by the
Impressionist avant-garde.
By the early twentieth century, Bouguereau and his art fell out of favor with the public, due in part to changing tastes.
In the 1980s, a revival of interest in
figure painting led to a rediscovery of Bouguereau and his work.
He finished 822 known paintings, but the whereabouts of many are
still unknown.
Life and career
Formative years
William-Adolphe Bouguereau was born in
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...
, France, on 30 November 1825, into a family of wine and
olive oil
Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil.
It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...
merchants.
[Wissman 1996, p. 11.] The son of Théodore Bouguereau (born 1800) and Marie Bonnin (1804), known as Adeline, William was brought up a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
. He had an elder brother, Alfred, and a younger sister, Marie (known as Hanna), who died when she was seven. The family moved to
Saint-Martin-de-Ré in 1832. Another sibling, Kitty, was born in 1834.
[Bartoli, Damien and Ross, Frederick C. ''William Bouguereau: His Life and Works'', 2010.] At the age of twelve, Bouguereau went to
Mortagne-sur-Gironde to stay with his uncle Eugène, a priest, and developed a love of nature, religion, and literature.
[Vachon, Marius, ''William-Adolphe Bouguereau'' (2018), pp. 241–244 (in German)] In 1839, he was sent to study for the priesthood at a Catholic college in
Pons
The pons (from Latin , "bridge") is part of the brainstem that in humans and other mammals, lies inferior to the midbrain, superior to the medulla oblongata and anterior to the cerebellum.
The pons is also called the pons Varolii ("bridge of ...
. Here he learned to draw and paint from Louis Sage, who had studied under
Ingres. Bouguereau then reluctantly left his studies to return to his family, now residing in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
. There he met a local artist, Charles Marionneau, and commenced at the Municipal School of Drawing and Painting in November 1841. Bouguereau also worked as a shop assistant, hand-colouring lithographs and making small paintings that were reproduced using
chromolithography. He was soon the best pupil in his class and decided to become an artist in Paris. To fund the move, he sold portraits – 33 oils in three months. All were unsigned and only one has been traced.
In 1845, he returned to Mortagne to spend more time with his uncle.
[ He arrived in Paris in March 1846, aged twenty.]
Bouguereau became a student at the . To supplement his formal training in drawing, he attended anatomical dissections and studied historical costumes and archeology. He was admitted to the studio of François-Édouard Picot, where he studied painting in the academic style. '' Dante and Virgil in Hell'' (1850) was an early example of his neo-classical works. Academic painting placed the highest status on historical and mythological subjects and Bouguereau determined to win the , which would gain him a three-year residence at the Villa Medici in Rome, Italy, where, in addition taking formal lessons, he could study firsthand the Renaissance artists and their masterpieces, as well as Greek, Etruscan, and Roman antiquities.
Villa Medici, Rome 1851–1854
The young artist entered the contest in April 1848. Soon after work began there were riots in Paris, and Bouguereau enrolled in the National Guard. After an unsuccessful attempt to win the prize, he entered again in 1849. Following 106 days of competition, he again failed to win. His third attempt commenced unsuccessfully in April 1850 with '' Dante and Virgil'' but five months later, he heard he had won a joint first prize for '' Shepherds Find Zenobia on the Banks of the Araxes''.
Along with other category winners, he set off for Rome in December and finally arrived at the Villa Medici in January 1851. Bouguereau explored the city, making sketches and watercolours as he went. He also studied classical literature, which influenced his subject choice for the rest of his career. He walked to Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
and on to Capri, Amalfi, and Pompeii
Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...
. Still based in Rome and working hard on course work, there were more explorations of Italy in 1852. Although he had a strong admiration for all traditional art, he particularly revered Greek sculpture, Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
, Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
, Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
, Titian
Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno.
Ti ...
, Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...
, and Delacroix. In April 1854, he left Rome and returned to La Rochelle.
Height of career
Bouguereau, painting within the traditional academic style, exhibited at the annual exhibitions of the Paris Salon for his entire working life. An early reviewer stated, "M. Bouguereau has a natural instinct and knowledge of contour. The eurythmie of the human body preoccupies him, and in recalling the happy results which, in this genre, the ancients and the artists of the sixteenth century arrived at, one can only congratulate M. Bouguereau in attempting to follow in their footsteps ... Raphael was inspired by the ancients ... and no one accused him of not being original."
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
was a favourite of Bouguereau and he took this review as a high compliment. He had fulfilled one of the requirements of the by completing an old-master copy of Raphael's '' The Triumph of Galatea''. In many of his works, he followed the same classical approach to composition, form, and subject matter. Bouguereau's graceful portraits of women were considered very charming, partly because he could beautify a sitter while also retaining her likeness.
Although Bouguereau spent most of his life in Paris, he returned to La Rochelle again and again throughout his professional life. He was revered in the town of his birth and undertook decorating commissions from local citizens. From the early 1870s, he and his family spent every summer in La Rochelle. In 1882, he decided that rather than rent he would purchase a house, as well as local farm buildings. By August of that year, the family's permanent summer base was on the rue Verdière. The artist commenced several paintings here and completed them in his Paris studio.
Bouguereau flourished after his Villa Medici residence. In 1854–55 he decorated a pavilion at the grand house of a cousin in Angoulins, including four large paintings of figures depicting the seasons. He was happy to undertake other commissions to pay off the debts he accrued in Italy and to help his penniless mother. He decorated a mansion with nine large paintings of allegorical figures. In 1856, the Ministry of State for Fine Arts commissioned him to paint ''Emperor Napoleon III Visiting the Victims of the Tarascon Flood''. During this period he also created decorations for the chapel at Saint-Clotilde.
He received the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
on 12 July 1859. By this time, Bouguereau was turning away from history painting and lengthy commissions to work on more personal paintings, with realistic and rustic themes.
By the late 1850s, he had made strong connections with art dealers, particularly Paul Durand-Ruel (later the champion of the Impressionists), who helped clients buy paintings from artists who exhibited at the Salons. Thanks to Durand-Ruel, Bouguereau met Hugues Merle, who later often was compared to Bouguereau. The Salons annually drew over 300,000 people, providing valuable exposure to exhibited artists. Bouguereau's fame extended to England by the 1860s. Three paintings were shown at the 1863 Salon and
Holy Family
' (Now at Chimei Museum) was sold to Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
, who presented it to his wife the Empress Eugénie, who hung it in her Tuileries apartment.
''Bather'' (1864), a shocking nude, was submitted to an exhibition in Ghent
Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
, Belgium. It was a spectacular success and purchased by the museum at great expense. At this time, William took on decorative work at the Grand Théâtre, Bordeaux, which lasted four years. In 1875, with assistants, he began work on a La Rochelle chapel ceiling, producing six paintings on copper over the next six years. Once installed in the city in summer 1875 he began '' Pietà'', one of his greatest religious paintings and shown at the 1876 Salon, in tribute to his son Georges. At the behest of King William III of the Netherlands, Bouguereau went to Het Loo Palace
Paleis Het Loo ( , meaning "The wikt:lea#English, Lea") is a palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, built by the House of Orange-Nassau.
History
The symmetry, symmetrical Dutch Baroque architecture, Dutch Baroque building was designed by Jacob Roman ...
in May 1876. The king admired the artist and they spent intimate times together. In May 1878 the Paris Universal Exhibition opened to showcase French work. Bouguereau found and borrowed twelve of his paintings from their owners, including his new work ''Nymphaeum''.
Bouguereau was a staunch traditionalist whose genre paintings and mythological themes were modern interpretations of Classical subjects, both pagan and Christian, with a concentration on the naked female form. The idealized world of his paintings brought to life goddesses, nymph
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
s, bathers, shepherdesses, and madonnas in a way that appealed to wealthy art patrons of the era.
Bouguereau employed traditional methods of working up a painting, including detailed pencil studies and oil sketches, and his careful method resulted in a pleasing and accurate rendering of the human form. His painting of skin, hands, and feet was particularly admired. He also used some of the religious and erotic symbolism of the Old Masters, such as the "broken pitcher" which connoted lost innocence.
Bouguereau received many commissions to decorate private houses and public buildings, and, early on, this added to his prestige and fame. As was typical of such commissions, he would sometimes paint in his own style, and at other times conform to an existing group style. He also made reductions of his public paintings for sale to patrons, of which ''The Annunciation'' (1888) is an example. He was also a successful portrait painter and many of his paintings of wealthy patrons remain in private hands.[Wissman 1996, p. 103.]
Académie Julian
From the 1860s, Bouguereau was closely associated with the where he gave lessons and advice to art students, male and female, from around the world. During several decades he taught drawing and painting to hundreds, if not thousands, of students. Many of them managed to establish artistic careers in their own countries, sometimes following his academic style, and in other cases, rebelling against it, like Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
. He married his famous pupil, Elizabeth Jane Gardner, after the death of his first wife.
Bouguereau received many honors from the Academy: he became a Life Member in 1876; received the Grand Medal of Honour in 1885;[Wissman 1996, p. 16.] was appointed Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1885; and was made Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour in 1905.[Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Base Léonore, Archives Nationales](_blank)
/ref> He began to teach drawing at the in 1875. The academy was a co-ed art institution independent of the , with no entrance exams and nominal fees.
Wives and children
In 1856, William began living with one of his models, Nelly Monchablon, a 19-year-old from Lisle-en-Rigault. Living together unmarried, the pair kept their liaison a secret. Their first child, Henriette, was born in April 1857; Georges was born in January 1859. A third child, Jeanne, was born 25 December 1861. The couple married quietly (as many assumed they were already married) on 24 May 1866. Eight days later, Jeanne died from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
. In mourning, the couple went to La Rochelle, and Bouguereau made a painting of her in 1868. A fourth child, Adolphe (known as Paul), was born in October 1868. Aged 15, Georges' health suffered, and his mother took him away from the bad air of Paris. However, he died on 19 June 1875. Nelly had a fifth child in 1876, Maurice, but her health was declining and the doctors suspected that she had contracted tuberculosis. Nelly died on 3 April 1877, and baby Maurice died two months later.[Wissman 1996, p. 15.]
The artist planned to marry Elizabeth Jane Gardner, a pupil whom he had known for ten years, but his mother was opposed to the idea. Soon after Nelly's death, she made Bouguereau swear he would not remarry within her lifetime. After his mother's death, and after a nineteen-year engagement, he and Gardner married in Paris in June 1896. His wife continued to work as his private secretary, and helped to organize the household staff. His son Paul contracted tuberculosis in early 1899; Paul, his stepmother, and Bouguereau went to Menton
Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...
in the south. When the stay was prolonged, the artist found a room in which to paint. Paul died at his father's house in April 1900, aged 32. Bouguereau had outlived four of his five children: only Henriette outlived him. Elizabeth, who was with her husband to the end, died in Paris in January 1922.
Homes
When Bouguereau arrived in Paris in March 1846, he resided at the Hotel Corneille at 5 rue Corneille. In 1855, after his stay in Rome, he lived at 27 rue de Fleurus, and the following year rented a fourth-floor studio at 3 rue Carnot, near his apartment. In 1866, the year of his marriage to Nelly, he bought a vast plot of land on the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, and an architect was commissioned to design a grand house with a top-floor studio. The family was installed in 1868, together with five servants and with his mother, Adeline, visiting daily. Bouguereau spent the rest of his life there and at La Rochelle.
Later years and death
Bouguereau was an assiduous painter, often completing twenty or more easel paintings in a single year. Even during the twilight years of his life, he would rise at dawn to work on his paintings six days a week and would continue painting until nightfall. Throughout the course of his lifetime, he is known to have painted at least 822 paintings. Many of these paintings have been lost. Near the end of his life he described his love of his art: "Each day I go to my studio full of joy; in the evening when obliged to stop because of darkness I can scarcely wait for the next morning to come ... if I cannot give myself to my dear painting I am miserable."
In the spring of 1905, Bouguereau's house and studio in Paris were burgled. On 19 August 1905, aged 79, Bouguereau died in La Rochelle from heart disease. There was an outpouring of grief in the town of his birth. After a Mass at the cathedral, his body was placed on a train to Paris for a second ceremony. Bouguereau was laid to rest with Nelly and his children at the family vault at Montparnasse Cemetery.
Notable works
File:L'Aurore by William-Adolphe Bouguereau - BMA.jpg, '' L'Aurore'' or ''Dawn'' (1881)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) - Le Crépuscule (1882).jpg, '' Le Crépuscule'' or ''Dusk'' (1882)
File:Psyche et LAmour.jpg, ''Psyche et L'Amour'' (1889)
File:Psycheabduct.jpg, ''The Abduction of Psyche'' (1895)
File:Bouguereau-Linnocence.jpg, ''Innocence'' (1893)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Bacchante (1894).jpg, ''Bacchante'' (1894)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Bather (1870).jpg, ''Baigneuse'' (1870)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - After the Bath (1875).jpg, ''After the Bath'' (1875)
File:WilliamBouguereau-TheBather-(1879).jpg, ''The Bather'' or ''Baigneuse'' (1879)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Les Deux Baigneuses (1884).jpg, ''Les Deux Baigneuses'' (1884)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Wave (1896).jpg, ''The Wave'' (1896)
File:Seated nude (1884).jpg, ''Seated nude'' (1884), oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 14 5/8 in. (46 x 37.2 cm), Clark Art Institute
File:Enfant sur un monstre marin by William-Adolphe Bouguereau 1857.jpg, ''Enfant sur un monstre marin'', 1857. Private collection.
File:Enfant sur un griffon by William-Adolphe Bouguereau 1857.jpg, ''Enfant sur un griffon'', 1857. Private collection.
Reputation
In his own time, Bouguereau was considered to be one of the greatest painters in the world by the academic art community, and simultaneously he was reviled by the avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
. He also gained wide fame in Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, the Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, Italy, Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, and the United States, and commanded high prices. His works often sold within days of completion. Some were viewed by international collectors and bought before work had even finished.
Bouguereau's career was nearly a direct ascent with hardly a setback.[Wissman 1996, p. 9.] To many, he epitomized taste and refinement, and a respect for tradition. To others, he was a competent technician stuck in the past. Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French people, French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Print ...
and his associates used the term "Bouguereauté" in a derogatory manner to describe any artistic style reliant on "slick and artificial surfaces", also known as a licked finish. In an 1872 letter, Degas wrote that he strove to emulate Bouguereau's ordered and productive working style, although with Degas' famous trenchant wit, and the aesthetic tendencies of the Impressionists, it is possible the statement was meant to be ironic. Paul Gauguin loathed him, rating him a round zero in ''Racontars de Rapin'' and later describing in ''Avant et après (Intimate Journals)'' the single occasion when Bouguereau made him smile on coming across a couple of his paintings in an Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
brothel, "where they belonged".
Bouguereau's works were eagerly bought by American millionaires who considered him the most important French artist of that time. For example, '' Nymphs and Satyr'' was purchased first by John Wolfe, then sold by his heiress Catharine Lorillard Wolfe to hotelier Edward Stokes, who displayed it in New York City's Hoffman House Hotel. Two paintings by Bouguereau in the Nob Hill mansion of Leland Stanford
Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Watervliet, New York. He served as the eighth governor of Calif ...
were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake
At 05:12 AM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensit ...
and fire of 1906. Gold Rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...
tycoon James Ben Ali Haggin and his family, who normally eschewed the nude, made an exception for Bouguereau's ''Nymphaeum''. In 1890 Bouguereau’s painting ''Return of Spring'' was damaged at a Foreign art exhibition of local artists in Omaha, Nebraska. Carey J. Warbington, an accountant, threw a chair at the painting. After Warbington was convicted of insanity and eventually committed suicide. The picture after the incident still traveled the United States with the tear intact and the chair accompanied the painting also, wherever the painting was shown.
However, even during his lifetime, there was critical dissent in assessing his work; the art historian Richard Muther wrote in 1894 that Bouguereau was a man "destitute of artistic feeling but possessing a cultured taste horeveals... in his feeble mawkishness, the fatal decline of the old schools of convention". In 1926, American art historian Frank Jewett Mather criticized the commercial intent of Bouguereau's work, writing that the artist "multiplied vague, pink effigies of nymphs, occasionally draped them, when they became saints and madonnas, painted on the great scale that dominates an exhibition, and has had his reward. I am convinced that the nude of Bouguereau was prearranged to meet the ideals of a New York stockbroker of the black walnut generation." Bouguereau confessed in 1891 that the direction of his mature work was largely a response to the marketplace: "What do you expect, you have to follow public taste, and the public only buys what it likes. That's why, with time, I changed my way of painting."
Bouguereau fell into disrepute after 1920, due in part to changing tastes. Comparing his work to that of his Realist and Impressionist contemporaries, Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director and broadcaster. His expertise covered a wide range of artists and periods, but he is particularly associated with Italian Renaissa ...
faulted Bouguereau's painting for " lubricity", and characterized such Salon art as superficial, employing the "convention of smoothed-out form and waxen surface".
The New York Cultural Center staged a show of Bouguereau's work in 1974—partly as a curiosity, although curator Robert Isaacson had his eye on the long-term rehabilitation of Bouguereau's legacy and reputation.[I Isaacson, Robert. ''William-Adolphe Bouguereau (catalogue)''. New York Cultural Center and Farleigh Dickinson, 1974.] In 1984, the Borghi Gallery hosted a commercial show of 23 oil paintings and one drawing. In the same year, a major exhibition was organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada. The exhibition opened at the Musée du Petit-Palais, in Paris, traveled to The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, and concluded in Montréal. More recently, resurgence in the artist's popularity has been promoted by American collector Fred Ross, who owns a number of paintings by Bouguereau and features him on his website at Art Renewal Center.
In 2019, the Milwaukee Art Museum assembled more than 40 of Bouguereau's paintings for a major retrospective of his work, which according to ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', asked the readers to "see Bouguereau through the eyes of an age when he was lionized, and Impressionism was dismissed as 'French freedom'". The exhibition later was scheduled to travel to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Tennessee., and then to the San Diego Museum of Art.
Prices for Bouguereau's works have climbed steadily since 1975, with major paintings selling at high prices: $1.5 million in 1998 for '' The Heart's Awakening'', $2.6 million in 1999 for '' The Motherland'' and ''Charity'' at auction in May 2000 for $3.5 million. Bouguereau's works are in many public collections.
''Notre Dame des Anges'' ("Our Lady of the Angels") was last shown publicly in the United States at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
in 1893. It was donated in 2002 to the Daughters of Mary Mother of Our Savior, an order of nuns affiliated with Clarence Kelly's Traditionalist Catholic Society of St. Pius V. In 2009, the nuns sold it for $450,000 to an art dealer, who was able to sell it for more than $2 million. Kelly was subsequently found guilty by a jury in Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...
, of defaming the dealer in remarks made in a television interview.
Name
Awards and honours
* 1848: Second , for ''Saint Pierre après sa délivrance de prison, vient retrouver les fidèles chez Marie''.
* 1850: Premier , for ''Zenobie retrouvée par les bergers sur les bords de l'Araxe''.
* 1859: Knight of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
* 1876: Officer of the Legion of Honour
* 1881: Knight in the Order of Leopold
* 1885: Commander of the Legion of Honour
* 1885: Grand Medal of Honour
* 1890: Member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium[Index biographique des membres et associés de l'Académie royale de Belgique (1769–2005).]
* 1905: Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour
In literature
In '' The King in Yellow'', by Robert W. Chambers, he is mentioned in various tales as a teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts.
In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
's novel '' The Sign of the Four'' (1890), the character Mr Sholto remarks, "there cannot be the least question about the Bouguereau. I am partial to the modern French school."
Selected works
* '' La Danse'' (1856)
* ''Bather'' (1864)
* ''Le Sommeil'' (1864)
* ''Loin du Pays (painting and two reductions) Far From Home'' (1867)
* '' Alone in the World'' (Latest 1867)
* '' The Knitting Girl'' (1869)
* '' The Elder Sister'' (1869)
* ''Italian Girl at the Fountain'' (1870)
* ''Baigneuse'' (1870)
* '' Nymphs and Satyr'' (1873)
* ''Homer and his Guide'' (1874)
* ''At the Edge of the River'' (1875)
* '' Flora and Zephyr'' (1875)
* ''The Grape Picker'' (1875)
* ''The Little Knitter'' (1875)
* '' Pietà (Bouguereau)'' (1876)
* ''La Jeunesse et l'Amour'' (1877)
* ''The Donkey Ride'' (1878)
* '' The Birth of Venus'' (1879)
* ''Girl Defending herself against Cupid'' (1880)
* '' Song of the Angels'' (1881)
* '' Le Crépuscule'' (1882)
* '' The Nut Gatherers'' (1882)
* ''Alma Parens of Mother France'' (1883)
* ''The Youth of Bacchus'' (1884)
* ''Byblis'' (1884)
* '' The Return of Spring'' (1886)
* ''Woman with Captive Cupid'' (1886)
* '' The First Mourning'' (1888)
* '' The Shepherdess'' (1889)
* '' Les murmures de l'Amour'' (1889)
* '' Gabrielle Cot'', a portrait of Cot's daughter, 1890
* '' L'Amour et Psyché, enfants'' (1890)
* '' The Bohemian'' (1890)
* ''Little Beggars'' (1890)
* '' Le Travail interrompu'' (1891)
* '' The Goose Girl'' (1891)
* ''The Wasps Nest'' (1892)
* ''Innocence'' (1893)
* ''Pleasant Burden'' (1895)
* ''The Ravishment of Psyche'' (1895)
* ''The Wave'' (1896)
* ''Admiration'' (1897)
* '' La Vierge au lys'' (1899)
* '' Rêve de printemps'' (1901)
* ''Yvonne on the Doorstep'' (1901)
* '' The Oreads'' (1902)
* ''Oceanid'' (1904)
* ''In The Woods'' (1905)
:
Source
'
Gallery
File:William Bouguereau - Dante and Virgile - Google Art Project 2.jpg, '' Dante and Virgil in Hell'' (1850)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Fraternal Love (1851).png, ''Fraternal Love'' (1851)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Day of the Dead (1859).jpg, ''The Day of the Dead'' (1859)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Charity (1859).jpg, ''Charity'' (1859)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Maternal Admiration (1869).jpg, '' Maternal Admiration'' (1869)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Haymaker (1869).jpg, ''The Haymaker'' (1869)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau, "Italian Mandolin".jpg, ''Italian Mandolin'' (1870)
File:Breton Brother and Sister MET DT2566.jpg, '' Breton Brother and Sister'' (1871)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Italian Girl Drawing Water (1871).jpg, ''Italian Girl Drawing Water'' (1871)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Charity (1878).jpg, ''Charity'' (1878)
File:Les Enfants à L'Agneau by William Adolphe Bouguereau.jpg, ''Les Enfants à L'Agneau'' (1879)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros (1880).jpg, ''A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros'' (1880)
File:William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_The_Flagellation_of_Our_Lord_Jesus_Christ_(1880).jpg, ''The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ'' (1880)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Song of the Angels (1881).jpg, '' Song of the Angels'' (1881)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau - Pêche pour les grenouilles.jpg, ''Fishing For Frogs'' (1882)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Biblis (1884).jpg, ''Byblis'' (1884)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Seated Nude (1884).jpg, ''Seated Nude'' (1884)
File:William Bouguereau - El primer duelo.jpg, '' The First Mourning'' (1888)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau - Les murmures de l'Amour (1889).jpg, '' Les murmures de l'Amour'' (1889)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Shepherdess (1889).jpg, '' The Shepherdess'' (1889)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Bohemian (1890).jpg, '' The Bohemian'' (1890)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau - Gabrielle Cot - Sotheby's.jpg, '' Gabrielle Cot, daughter of Pierre Auguste Cot'' (1890)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - A Little Coaxing (1890).jpg, '' A Little Coaxing'' (1890)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1892 - Le Guêpier.jpg, ''The Invasion'' (1892)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Daisies (1894).jpg, ''Daisies'' (1894)
File:The Shepherdess by William Adolphe Bouguereau.jpg, ''The Shepherdess'' (1895)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Inspiration (1898).jpg, ''Inspiration'' (1898)
File:La Vierge au lys.jpg, '' La Vierge au lys'' ''(The Virgin of the Lilies'') (1899)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau The Virgin With Angels.jpg, '' Queen of the Angels'' (1900)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Before The Bath (1900).jpg, ''Before The Bath'' (1900)
File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Two Sisters (1901).jpg, ''Two Sisters'' (1901)
See also
* Gustave Doyen
* Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
* The Broken Pitcher (Painting)
References
Further reading
*
*
* Bouguereau, William-Adolphe (1885)
Catalogue illustré des œuvres de W. Bouguereau
Paris: L. Baschet.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
William-Adolphe Bouguereau: The Complete Works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouguereau, William-Adolphe
1825 births
1905 deaths
19th-century French male artists
19th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
20th-century French painters
Academic art
Academic staff of the Académie Julian
Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery
École des Beaux-Arts alumni
French male painters
French Realist painters
French Roman Catholics
Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour
Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium
French Orientalist painters
People from La Rochelle
Pont-Aven painters
Prix de Rome for painting
Paintings by William-Adolphe Bouguereau