William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French

academic painter 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 ...

. 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 Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

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 A figure painting is a work of fine art in any of the painting media with the primary subject being the human figure, whether clothed or nude. Figure painting may also refer to the activity of creating such a work. The human figure has been on ...

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''; oc, La Rochèla ) 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 department. With ...

, France, on 30 November 1825, into a family of wine and olive oil merchants.Wissman 1996, p. 11. The son of Théodore Bouguereau (born 1800) and Marie Bonnin (1804), known as Adeline, William was brought up a Catholic. 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 Saint-Martin-de-Ré (, literally ''Saint-Martin of Ré''; Saintongeais: ''Sént-Martin-de-Ré'') is a commune in the western French department of Charente-Maritime.Bartoli, Damien and Ross, Frederick C. ''William Bouguereau: His Life and Works'', 2010. At the age of twelve, Bouguereau went to

Mortagne-sur-Gironde Mortagne-sur-Gironde () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. Its inhabitants are called the Mortagnais and Mortagnaises. Bordering the banks of the Gironde estuary, this small town was for centuries a princi ...

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. Here he was taught to draw and paint by Louis Sage, who had studied under

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

. Bouguereau reluctantly left his studies to return to his family, now residing in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. 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 Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour prints. This type of colour printing stemmed from the process of lithography, and includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. When chromolithography is used to reproduce ph ...

. 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

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. 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 François-Édouard Picot (; 10 October 1786 in Paris – 15 March 1868 in Paris) was a French painter during the July Monarchy, painting mythological, religious and historical subjects. Life Born in Paris, Picot won the Prix de Rome paintin ...

, 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

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

, which would gain him a three-year residence at the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

in Rome, Italy, where in addition to formal lessons he could study at first hand 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 ''Dante and Virgil'' is an 1850 oil on canvas painting by the French academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It is on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The painting depicts a scene from Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', which narrates a jour ...

'' but five months later, he heard he had won a joint first prize for ''

Shepherds Find Zenobia on the Banks of the Araxes ''Shepherds Find Zenobia on the Banks of the Araxes'' is an 1850 oil on canvas painting by William Bouguereau, now in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Its subject is drawn from Tacitus's '' Histories'' (XII.51), in which Rhadamist ...

''. 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 (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and on to Capri,

Amalfi Amalfi (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramatic c ...

and

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

. 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 The sculpture of ancient Greece is the main surviving type of fine ancient Greek art as, with the exception of painted ancient Greek pottery, almost no ancient Greek painting survives. Modern scholarship identifies three major stages in monumen ...

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

and

Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...

. 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 The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

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."

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. William Adolphe Bouguereau The Holy Family

William Adolphe Bouguereau The Holy Family

Bouguereau flourished after his Villa Medici residence. In 1854–55 he decorated a pavilion at the grand house of a cousin in

Angoulins Angoulins () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Angoulinois'' or ''Angoulinoises''. Geography Angoulins is located in the north ...

, including four large paintings of figures depicting the seasons. He was happy to undertake other commissions to pay off the debts 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''. There were decorations for the chapel at Saint-Clotilde. He received the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

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 Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

(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 Hugues Merle (1822–1881) was a French painter who mostly depicted sentimental or moral subjects. He has often been compared with William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Biography Hugues Merle was born in 1822 in La Sône. He studied painting with Léon Co ...

, 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 The Chimei Museum () is a private museum established in 1992 by Shi Wen-long of Chi Mei Corporation in Rende District, Tainan, Taiwan. The museum's collection is divided into five categories: Fine arts (including painting, sculpture, decorative a ...

) was sold to Napoleon III, who presented it to his wife the Empress Eugénie, who hung it in her Tuileries apartment. Bouguereau - Baigneuse

''Bather'' (1864), a shocking nude, was submitted to an exhibition in Ghent, 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 William III (Dutch: ''Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk''; English: ''William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis''; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 18 ...

, Bouguereau went to

Het Loo Palace Het Loo Palace ( nl, Paleis Het Loo , meaning "The Lea") is a palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, built by the House of Orange-Nassau. History The symmetrical Dutch Baroque building was designed by Jacob Roman and Johan van Swieten and was bui ...

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 Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

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 ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

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

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

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 artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

. He married his most famous pupil,

Elizabeth Jane Gardner Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau (October 4, 1837 – January 28, 1922) was an American academic and salon painter, who was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. She was an American expatriate who died in Paris where she had lived most of her life. ...

, 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 The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

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
/ref> He began to teach drawing at the Académie Julian in 1875, 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 L'Isle-en-Rigault (; before 2017: ''Lisle-en-Rigault'')Décret n° 2017-1744
22 D ...

. 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) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. 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. She died on 3 April 1877, and baby Maurice died two months later.Wissman 1996, p. 15. The artist planned to marry

, 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 (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...

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 here 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 Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...

Notable works

File:L'Aurore by William-Adolphe Bouguereau - BMA.jpg, ''

L'Aurore ''L’Aurore'' (; ) was a literary, liberal, and socialist newspaper published in Paris, France, from 1897 to 1914. Its most famous headline was Émile Zola's '' J'Accuse...!'' leading into his article on the Dreyfus Affair. The newspaper was ...

'' or ''Dawn'' (1881) File:Bouguereau-Evening Mood 1882.jpg, ''Soir'', ''Evening'' or ''Evening Mood'' (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)

Reputation

The young shepherdess, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

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 The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

. He also gained wide fame in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Italy,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and in 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 Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is espec ...

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 A licked finish is a hallmark of French academic art. It refers to the process of smoothing the surface quality of a painting so that the presence of the artist's hand is no longer visible. It was codified by the French Academy in the eighteenth c ...

. 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 Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

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 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 ''Nymphs and Satyr'' (french: Nymphes et un satyre) is a painting, oil on canvas, created by artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1873. ''Nymphs and Satyr'' was exhibited in Paris at the 1873 Salon, which opened on 5 May, a year before the Impres ...

'' 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 Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the highes ...

mansion of

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American industrialist and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 8th governor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented California in the United States Se ...

were destroyed in the

San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 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-intensity sha ...

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, New Z ...

tycoon

James Ben Ali Haggin James Ben Ali Haggin (December 9, 1822 – September 12, 1914) was an American attorney, rancher, investor, art collector, and a major owner and breeder in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. Haggin made a fortune in the aftermath of the Cal ...

and his family, who normally eschewed the nude, made an exception for Bouguereau's ''Nymphaeum''. 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 Frank Jewett Mather Jr. (6 July 1868 – 11 November 1953) was an American art critic and professor. He was the first "modernist" (i.e., post-classicist) professor at the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University. He was a direct desc ...

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

contemporaries,

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

faulted Bouguereau's painting for "

lubricity Lubricity is the measure of the reduction in friction and/or wear by a lubricant. The study of lubrication and wear mechanisms is called tribology. Measurement of lubricity The lubricity of a substance is not a material property, and cannot be me ...

", and characterized such Salon art as superficial, employing the "convention of smoothed-out form and waxen surface." The

New York Cultural Center New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

staged a show of Bouguereau's work in 1974—partly as a curiosity, although curator

Robert Isaacson Robert Isaacson (1 September 1927, St. Louis, Missouri – 5 November 1998, New York City) was a collector, scholar, and art dealer eulogized upon his death as "the Berenson of nineteenth century academic studies."Draper, James David (biograp ...

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 The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

in Canada. The exhibition opened at the Musée du Petit-Palais, in Paris, traveled to The

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

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 The Art Renewal Center (ARC) is a non-profit, educational organization, which hosts an online museum dedicated to realist art. The ARC was founded by New Jersey businessman, author, and art collector Fred Ross. Particular emphasis is given to ...

. 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'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', 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, Tenn., 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: $1,500,000 in 1998 for '' The Heart's Awakening'', $2,600,000 in 1999 for '' The Motherland'' and ''Charity'' at auction in May 2000 for $3,500,000. 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 in 1893. It was donated in 2002 to the Daughters of Mary Mother of Our Savior, an order of nuns affiliated with

Clarence Kelly Clarence Kelly (born 1941) is an American sedevacantist traditionalist Catholic bishop. He is a co-founder of the Society of Saint Pius V and the founder of the Congregation of Saint Pius V. Biography Clarence Kelly was born in 1941, in B ...

'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 capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, 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

* 1876: Officer of the Legion of Honour * 1881: Knight in the

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

* 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 The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, sometimes referred to as ') is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Comm ...

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 Robert William Chambers (May 26, 1865 – December 16, 1933) was an American artist and fiction writer, best known for his book of short stories titled '' The King in Yellow'', published in 1895. Life Chambers was born in Brooklyn, New York, t ...

, 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 Ho ...

's novel ''

The Sign of the Four ''The Sign of the Four'' (1890), also called ''The Sign of Four'', is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring the fictional detective. Plot ...

'' (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) * ''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) * ''

'' (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) * ''La Jeunesse et l'Amour'' (1877) * ''The Donkey Ride'' (1878) * ''

The Birth of Venus ''The Birth of Venus'' ( it, Nascita di Venere ) is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea ...

'' (1879) * ''Girl Defending herself against Cupid'' (1880) * ''

Song of the Angels ''The Virgin with Angels'' (french: La Vierge aux anges), also known as ''The Song of the Angels'' is an oil painting by the French people, French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Its dimensions are 213.4 × 152.4 cm. It is exhibited at the ...

'' (1881) * ''

Evening Mood ''Evening Mood'' (''Humeur Nocturne'') is an 1882 painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, now in the collection of the Havana's Museum of Fine Arts, in Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ) ...

'' (1882) * ''

The Nut Gatherers ''The Nut Gatherers'' (''Les Noisettes'', literally, ''The Hazelnuts'') is an 1882 oil painting by the French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It is one of the most popular pieces at the Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts ...

'' (1882) * ''Alma Parens of Mother France'' (1883) * ''The Youth of Bacchus'' (1884) * ''Biblis'' (1884) * ''

The Return of Spring ''The Return of Spring'' (french: Le Printemps) is a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau created in 1886. It is among the more well-known of his works. It is currently in the collection of the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska Nebra ...

'' (1886) * ''Woman with Captive Cupid'' (1886) * ''

The First Mourning ''The First Mourning'' (in French language, French ''Premier Deuil'') is an oil on canvas painted in 1888 by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Its dimensions are . It is in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires), Museo Nacional de Bellas Arte ...

'' (1888) * ''

The Shepherdess ''The Shepherdess'' (french: Pastourelle), also known as ''The Little Shepherdess'', is a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau completed in 1889. The title is taken from the Southern French dialect. The painting depicts an idyllic, pastoral sce ...

'' (1889) * '' Les murmures de l'Amour'' (1889) * ''

Gabrielle Cot ''Gabrielle Cot'' () is a portrait oil on canvas painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau from 1890. Gabrielle Cot was the daughter of the French painter Pierre Auguste Cot, the most notable pupil of Bouguereau. This painting was one of the only n ...

'', a portrait of Cot's daughter, 1890 * ''

L'Amour et Psyché, enfants ''L'Amour et Psyché, enfants'' is an oil painting by William Adolphe Bouguereau in 1890. It is currently in a private collection. It was displayed in the Salon of Paris in 1890, the year Bouguereau was President of the Société des Artistes Fr ...

'' (1890) * '' The Bohemian'' (1890) * ''Little Beggars'' (1890) * ''

Le Travail interrompu ''Le Travail interrompu'' (English: ''Work Interrupted'') is a painting by nineteenth-century French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1891. The painting is currently held in the Mead Art Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. The painting shows a ...

'' (1891) * ''

The Goose Girl "The Goose Girl" (german: Die Gänsemagd) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' in 1815 (KHM 89). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 533. The story was first translated into English b ...

'' (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 ''Maternal Admiration'' (french: Admiration maternelle) is an oil painting by the French people, French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau, painted in 1869, and now owned by a private collection, private collector. Its dimensions are 116 × 89&nb ...

'' (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) - Song of the Angels (1881).jpg, ''

'' (1881) File:William Adolphe Bouguereau, Fishing For Frogs, 1882. Oil on canvas.jpg, ''Fishing For Frogs'' (1882) File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Biblis (1884).jpg, ''

Biblis Biblis is a municipality in the Bergstraße district in southern Hessen, Germany. Geography Location The municipality lies in the Rhine rift west of the Odenwald between Darmstadt to the north and Mannheim to the south; it also lies north of B ...

'' (1884) File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Seated Nude (1884).jpg, ''Seated Nude'' (1884) File:William Bouguereau - El primer duelo.jpg, ''

'' (1888) File:Les murmures de l'Amour, William-Adolphe Bouguereau.jpg, '' Les murmures de l'Amour'' (1889) File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Shepherdess (1889).jpg, ''

'' (1889) File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Bohemian (1890).jpg, '' The Bohemian'' (1890) File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau - Gabrielle Cot - Sotheby's.jpg, ''

, daughter of

Pierre Auguste Cot Pierre Auguste Cot (; 17 February 1837 – 2 August 1883) was a French painter of the Academic Classicism school. Life and career Cot was born in Bédarieux, Hérault, and initially studied at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse before going t ...

'' (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)

References

External links

William-Adolphe Bouguereau: The Complete Works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouguereau, William-Adolphe 1825 births 1905 deaths People from La Rochelle 19th-century French painters 19th-century French male artists 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Académie Julian faculty Prix de Rome for painting French Realist painters French Roman Catholics Academic art École des Beaux-Arts alumni Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery French male painters Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Orientalist painters Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium Pont-Aven painters