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Lot Essay
In the last quarter of the 19th century, American collectors had an almost insatiable appetite for the work of William Bouguereau. Made up of entrepreneurs and tycoons, this group of millionaire collectors was eager to decorate their new mansions with iconic compositions that demonstrated a high level of quality and artistic virtuosity. Their taste eventually laid the foundation for museum collections and forges a visual identity for America which was taken up by early cinematography, which relied on the work for the many 19th century painters and frequently turned to Bouguereau’s draped goddesses and peasant children for inspiration.
This sustained interest of American collectors was nurtured by the French dealer Paul Durand Ruel and then effectively sustained by Adolphe Goupil, Durand Ruel’s closest competitor in Paris. At the encouragement of Durand Ruel, Bouguereau made the fortuitous decision to shift his choice of subjects away from the large religious commissions toward the type of image more easily consumed by his wealthy American collectors. In particular, he embraced the late nineteenth century fascination with rural life, concentrating on young girls depicted in the countryside. Social accuracy was not his concern and the world presented in Bougureau’s canvases was far rosier than the harsh realities of those who lived outside the cities. Fronia Wissman writes: ‘Bouguereau and the well-to-do-collectors who acquired his paintings preferred to see these children as picturesque outsiders, facts of daily life perhaps, but poignant rather than threatening’ (F. Wissman, Bouguereau, San Francisco, 1996, p. 51). In Sur le rocher, painted in 1872, Bouguereau shows a young girl seated on a rock, barefooted and gazing directly at the viewer. One foot hesitantly touches a small pool of water at her feet. Her hair is bound up in a bandana tied with a bow on the side, her dress is clean and like all of Bouguereau’s children, her perfectly painted, unsoiled feet are free from any signs of work or wear, symbols of her idealized existence.
Sur le rocher is one of a small group of pictures within the artist’s oeuvre that features a vast coastal scene behind the imagery of the young peasant girl. The atmospheric beauty of the sea and sky showcases the virtuosity of the artist; his use of light and shadow accurately captures the dramatic recession into space. Bouguereau was likely inspired by the landscapes of Brittany where he regularly spent the summer months from 1866 until the war in 1870.
Sur le rocher once graced the private collection of Alvan Tufts Fuller, Governor of Massachusetts, trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and an avid art collector.
This sustained interest of American collectors was nurtured by the French dealer Paul Durand Ruel and then effectively sustained by Adolphe Goupil, Durand Ruel’s closest competitor in Paris. At the encouragement of Durand Ruel, Bouguereau made the fortuitous decision to shift his choice of subjects away from the large religious commissions toward the type of image more easily consumed by his wealthy American collectors. In particular, he embraced the late nineteenth century fascination with rural life, concentrating on young girls depicted in the countryside. Social accuracy was not his concern and the world presented in Bougureau’s canvases was far rosier than the harsh realities of those who lived outside the cities. Fronia Wissman writes: ‘Bouguereau and the well-to-do-collectors who acquired his paintings preferred to see these children as picturesque outsiders, facts of daily life perhaps, but poignant rather than threatening’ (F. Wissman, Bouguereau, San Francisco, 1996, p. 51). In Sur le rocher, painted in 1872, Bouguereau shows a young girl seated on a rock, barefooted and gazing directly at the viewer. One foot hesitantly touches a small pool of water at her feet. Her hair is bound up in a bandana tied with a bow on the side, her dress is clean and like all of Bouguereau’s children, her perfectly painted, unsoiled feet are free from any signs of work or wear, symbols of her idealized existence.
Sur le rocher is one of a small group of pictures within the artist’s oeuvre that features a vast coastal scene behind the imagery of the young peasant girl. The atmospheric beauty of the sea and sky showcases the virtuosity of the artist; his use of light and shadow accurately captures the dramatic recession into space. Bouguereau was likely inspired by the landscapes of Brittany where he regularly spent the summer months from 1866 until the war in 1870.
Sur le rocher once graced the private collection of Alvan Tufts Fuller, Governor of Massachusetts, trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and an avid art collector.