''The Elder Sister'' (french: La soeur aînée) is a painting by nineteenth-century French

academic art Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie d ...

ist,

William-Adolphe Bouguereau 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 ...

, in 1869. The painting was acquired in 1992 by the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

, as a gift. According to the museum website, the painting was the gift of an anonymous lady in memory of her father. Since then, ''The Elder Sister'' has been a part of the permanent collection of the museum and is placed in its "Arts of Europe" section. It has become one of the most notable highlights among the museum's collection of paintings. The painting shows a girl ("the elder sister") sitting on a rock and holding a sleeping baby on her lap. A quiet rural landscape serves as the background. For this scene, Bouguereau's daughter, Henriette, and son, Paul, served as models. Bouguereau used great care and attention in drawing the children's features and the positioning of their bodies, giving them an idyllic look. The girl's eyes look directly at the viewer and both children are shown with immaculate clothing. The dimensions of the painting are 51¼ × 38¼ in (130.2 × 97.2 cm) and the frame is 67½ × 55 × 5½ in (171.5 × 139.7 × 14 cm). Another painting by Bouguereau also is entitled, ''The Elder Sister'' (completed in 1864). It currently belongs to the permanent collection of the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

References

External links

''The Elder Sister'', 1869, William Bouguereau
Google Art Project, www.googleartproject.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Elder Sister (Bouguereau), The Paintings in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Paintings by William-Adolphe Bouguereau 1869 paintings Paintings of children