La soupe au lait

By 1880, Bouguereau was an eminently successful Parisian artist with leading figures of the day commissioning portraits by him and museums beginning to collect his mythological and religious subjects. But Bouguereau was born in the countryside and his heart remained in the town of La Rochelle where he had grown up and it was there that he retreated from Parisian life. In La Rochelle, Bouguereau spent his days painting the monde paysan; the subject for which he is most remembered today. Bouguereau's women and children of La Rochelle, the focus of nearly one third of his oeuvre after 1875, exist in an idealized world of rustic simplicity. These poignant portrayals of peasants embody beauty, purity and hope, central tenants of Bouguereau's artistic philosophy.

La soupe au lait was most likely painted during one of Bouguereau's many trips to La Rochelle and then later finished in his Paris studio as was his practice. Bouguereau's unsurpassed ability to render flesh and textures is on full display here from the flushed pink cheeks and softly tousled hair of the young girl to the glistening white porcelain bowl in her hands. As in the best of Bouguereau's works, the young girl engages directly with the viewer; casting her big brown eyes at us, she appears both innocent and mischievous.

Bouguereau's gift for capturing the human psyche was recognized early on as Adrien Désamy, a writer for the arts journal L'art Contemporain, professed in May 1879, 'It is said that no one is better versed than Victor Hugo to speak of women and children, one can similarly exclaim, that in our times, no one is more skilled to paint women and children like M. Bouguereau.' La soupe au lait stands as a testament to such high praise.