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Lot Essay
In early 1878, William Bouguereau painted a large work entitled Fleurs de Printemps measuring 119 x 57.5 cm. (Private Collection, USA). Its subject was a magnificent full-length portrait of a standing girl with long blond curls parted à la Venetian style. She is depicted during a brief stop at the side of a forest path, carrying an armful of spring flowers. Bouguereau used the same model again in his famed composition titled La priere that also dates to the same year
Fleurs de Printemps was received extremely well amongst his colleagues and friends and as a result, Bouguereau asked his assistant, Gustave Doyen, to reproduce it. The reproduction was not meant to be a reduction of the same composition, but instead it was to be treated as if it were an entirely different work. The piece was same size in width yet shorter in height, thus measuring 89 x 58 cm. The present work depicts the same magnificent model shown to her knees this time, against a dark brown and uniform background.
The account books of Bouguereau provide evidence that Gustave Doyen was paid a minimum of three hundred francs and possibly more for this work, as Bouguereau often advanced money to his assistant. Before affixing the work with his signature and the date, however, Bouguereau scrupulously retouched and reworked the painting himself as his commercial reputation would have very much been at stake.
We are grateful to Damien Bartoli for preparing this catalogue entry.
To be included in the upcoming Bouguereau catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Damien Bartoli with the assistance of Frederick Ross, the Bouguereau Committee and the American Society of Classical Realism.
Fleurs de Printemps was received extremely well amongst his colleagues and friends and as a result, Bouguereau asked his assistant, Gustave Doyen, to reproduce it. The reproduction was not meant to be a reduction of the same composition, but instead it was to be treated as if it were an entirely different work. The piece was same size in width yet shorter in height, thus measuring 89 x 58 cm. The present work depicts the same magnificent model shown to her knees this time, against a dark brown and uniform background.
The account books of Bouguereau provide evidence that Gustave Doyen was paid a minimum of three hundred francs and possibly more for this work, as Bouguereau often advanced money to his assistant. Before affixing the work with his signature and the date, however, Bouguereau scrupulously retouched and reworked the painting himself as his commercial reputation would have very much been at stake.
We are grateful to Damien Bartoli for preparing this catalogue entry.
To be included in the upcoming Bouguereau catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Damien Bartoli with the assistance of Frederick Ross, the Bouguereau Committee and the American Society of Classical Realism.