The Professors of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts extoled their students to depict "appropriate" subjects in their works. In the Academic tradition paintings were vehicles to elevate and educate the viewer and references were to be made to either historical or religious subjects as a search for the Ideal. Of the three "envois" that Bouguereau painted in his first year studying at the Académie de France à Rome, it was Idylle that Bouguereau chose to enter in the 1853 Salon despite the Academy's criticism of its supposed lack of harmony between the figures and the background.

Italy afforded Bouguereau the opportunity to study firsthand the Antique and Renaissance masters whom he admired. Their influence on him is apparent in the composition of Idylle which follows from the pyramidical structure of the High Renaissance. Bouguereau faithfully researched his subjects, striving for accuracy with empirical observation while closely following the classical canons of drawing and perspective. Journal entries show that Bouguereau worked on Idylle between December 16th, 1851 and April 10th, 1852. In Idylle great attention is given to the precise rendering of botany and costume. Bouguereau presents us with an idealized world, far removed from the realities of 19th century industrial life. Guised as a Greek myth, the figures represent standards of ideal beauty in a sylvan setting. It is possible that the female figure is the goddess Diana: the garland of ivy atop her head would suggest her immortality and her white robe could indicate her chastity and purity. If that were the case, then the male figure could be identified Endymion, a beautiful youth who fell into an eternal sleep and who was visited nightly by the goddess while he lay recumbant in a leafy bower. He was seen by poets and artists as a symbol of the timelessness of beauty.

We are grateful to Mark Steven Walker for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.