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Lot Essay
Le dessin est préparatoire pour Après le Bain, réalisée en 1894 (D. Bartoli et F.C. Ross, William Bouguereau. His Life and Works, New York 2015, pl. 222). Ce tableau appartient à un groupe plus important de peintures de taille comparable, montrant également des baigneurs dans des postures semblables (ibid., pls. 125, 191A). La qualité de ce dessin fut immédiatement reconnue puisqu’elle fut choisie comme illustration pour la biographie de Bouguereau par Vachon, publiée en 1900 (voir Bibliographie). Une étude alternative fut publiée dans ce même volume mais n’a finalement pas été utilisée pour la toile finale (ibid., p. 101). La jeune femme représentée est la jeune parisienne Élize Brugière, figurant aussi dans ces peintures (Bartoli et Ross, op. cit., pls. 232, 264).
These two studies of a graceful nude are preparatory for Bouguereau’s oil painting Après le bain from 1894 (D. Bartoli and F.C. Ross, William Bouguereau. His Life and Works, New York 2015, pl. 222). The picture belongs to an important group of paintings of comparable size showing bathers in a similar pose (ibid., pls. 125, 191A). From the 1890s Bouguereau developed two concepts of fantaisie; one ‘fantastical’, in which human figures are joined by angels and putti, the other ‘realistic’, to which the present composition belongs, and which reflects notions of what the classical world might have looked like. The quality of this drawing was clearly recognized early on, as it was chosen to feature as an illustration in Bouguereau’s biography by Vachon, published in 1900 (see Literature). An alternative study for the painting was published in the same volume, but the artist ultimately decided not to use it for the picture (ibid., p. 101). The young woman shown in these drawings was the young Parisian Élize Brugière, who featured in other oil paintings as well (Bartoli and Ross, op. cit., pls. 232, 264).
These two studies of a graceful nude are preparatory for Bouguereau’s oil painting Après le bain from 1894 (D. Bartoli and F.C. Ross, William Bouguereau. His Life and Works, New York 2015, pl. 222). The picture belongs to an important group of paintings of comparable size showing bathers in a similar pose (ibid., pls. 125, 191A). From the 1890s Bouguereau developed two concepts of fantaisie; one ‘fantastical’, in which human figures are joined by angels and putti, the other ‘realistic’, to which the present composition belongs, and which reflects notions of what the classical world might have looked like. The quality of this drawing was clearly recognized early on, as it was chosen to feature as an illustration in Bouguereau’s biography by Vachon, published in 1900 (see Literature). An alternative study for the painting was published in the same volume, but the artist ultimately decided not to use it for the picture (ibid., p. 101). The young woman shown in these drawings was the young Parisian Élize Brugière, who featured in other oil paintings as well (Bartoli and Ross, op. cit., pls. 232, 264).