Jeune femme et enfant

It is very likely that this work is a preparatory sketch for the 1869 painting La soeur aînée now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Obviously, the composition of the sketch differs somewhat from the finished version, but it is very similar in spirit. In both, one recognizes the silhouette of Bouguereau's model, Emilienne Cesil-Biegler, who is wearing the same clothes in both works. In the painting, she is depicted seated on an embankment, while in the sketch the model is seated on the ruins of a garden staircase. Also contrary to the finished work, the yellow blanket that envelops the baby is barely visible and he is not wearing a red bonnet. However, this is not surprising, as Bouguereau used such sketches as a means of studying and adjusting volumes and tones.

To be included in the forthcoming 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.