Lot Essay
It is no small irony that when Bouguereau painted "La Bouillie" (or "Petite fille mangeant sa soupe" as the artist referred to the picture in his notes) in 1872 he was enjoying great success as a painter. Afterall, his prospects for fame did not appear at all assured in 1846 when he barely gained entrance to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts by placing ninety-ninth out of one hundred students to be accepted. Nonetheless, Bouguereau proved himself as a student and within the next decades was heralded as one of France's greatest painters. He regularly exhibited at both the Paris Salon and Exposition Universelle, was made a Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur and an honorary member of the Societe d'Artistes Belges, and had an exclusive contract with Goupil's all in the short period before he painted "La Bouillie."
The two years prior to 1872 had been fraught with distractions for the artist. During the Siege of Paris that began in 1870 Bouguereau had patriotically served with the National Guard and afterwards, during the days of the Paris Commune, he moved with his family to La Rochelle. Moreover, in April of 1872 Bouguereau's infant daughter Jeanne Leontine died. Nonetheless, Bouguereau did not let these events slow the pace of his painting.
A large part of Bouguereau's reputation was built on the success of his pictures of children. "La Bouillie" is a poetic compostion executed in a rich palette and with tender expression that was intended to convey values of purity and hope. The notion that art was to impart a social or civic idea and represent a search for the Ideal was central to the philosophy behind the "Pompier" art of the time of which Bouguereau was a champion. As a student Bouguereau had studied the classical painters and sculptors and through the exercises of copying the masters he learned the importance of form and technique. In "La Bouillie" one can see the influence of Raphael who Bouguereau greatly admired. Moreover, the subject of the French peasant girl was very much in keeping with Bouguereau's patriotism and is indicative of the developing sense of a national identity that followed from the events of the Siege of Paris and the Franco-Prussian war. By painting a young peasant girl Bouguereau was able to communicate to his audience both the ignominy of poverty and the virtue of charity all within the guise of its being only a "picture of a child." Indeed, Marc de Montifaud's comments regarding Bouguereau's 1872 picture that was submitted to the Salon of 1873, "Little Marauders," seem equally appropriate for "La Bouillie" when he wrote: "His peasants are princesses dressed in the clothes of 'vacheres.'"
The two years prior to 1872 had been fraught with distractions for the artist. During the Siege of Paris that began in 1870 Bouguereau had patriotically served with the National Guard and afterwards, during the days of the Paris Commune, he moved with his family to La Rochelle. Moreover, in April of 1872 Bouguereau's infant daughter Jeanne Leontine died. Nonetheless, Bouguereau did not let these events slow the pace of his painting.
A large part of Bouguereau's reputation was built on the success of his pictures of children. "La Bouillie" is a poetic compostion executed in a rich palette and with tender expression that was intended to convey values of purity and hope. The notion that art was to impart a social or civic idea and represent a search for the Ideal was central to the philosophy behind the "Pompier" art of the time of which Bouguereau was a champion. As a student Bouguereau had studied the classical painters and sculptors and through the exercises of copying the masters he learned the importance of form and technique. In "La Bouillie" one can see the influence of Raphael who Bouguereau greatly admired. Moreover, the subject of the French peasant girl was very much in keeping with Bouguereau's patriotism and is indicative of the developing sense of a national identity that followed from the events of the Siege of Paris and the Franco-Prussian war. By painting a young peasant girl Bouguereau was able to communicate to his audience both the ignominy of poverty and the virtue of charity all within the guise of its being only a "picture of a child." Indeed, Marc de Montifaud's comments regarding Bouguereau's 1872 picture that was submitted to the Salon of 1873, "Little Marauders," seem equally appropriate for "La Bouillie" when he wrote: "His peasants are princesses dressed in the clothes of 'vacheres.'"