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Lot Essay
The years 1894 to 1896 were particularly productive ones for Bouguereau. After 1896, while the quality of his work did not diminish, his output began to decline, no doubt as a result of the change in routine brought about by his marriage to Elizabeth Gardner.
Secrets d'amour belongs to the host of "fantasy paintings" inspired by classical antiquity, or rather visual translations of Classical poets. Marius Vachon reports that in his interview with the artist, Bouguereau claimed to find constant inspiration in antiquity, which he eagerly transferred onto canvas because it provided an inexhaustible source for exploring themes of intemporality. His objective in these artistic explorations was to achieve beauty of form and harmonies of color in order to work up compositions which were at once charming, gracious and delicate. No doubt inspired by the artist's reading of Pausanias, to whose work he had always been partial, Bouguereau's pictorial dream world developed gradually through the years, reaching its apogee during the 1890s.
Secrets d'amour depicts a beautiful young girl leaning against the basin of a fountain, an important symbol in the artist's oeuvre and present in many of his paintings. The girl appears to be in deep meditation, and though to hide the fact that she is in reality under the spell of, and attentive to, the advice being whispered to her by the winged figure of Love. The girl is captive, her destiny at the mercy of Love.
It should be noted that Bouguereau painted another, almost identical painting probably at the same time as he was working on the present painting - a very rare occurrence in Bouguereau's oeuvre. Titled Rêverie, it could easily be confused with the present painting, were it not for the fact that the girl assumes a slightly different pose and the Cupid is absent.
The model for this picture, a young Parisian girl named Odile Charpentier, must have been among Bouguereau's favorites that year as she appears in two other paintings from 1896, La vague and Meditation.
Secrets d'amour was photographed by Braun and Clement (cat. No. 5557).
We are grateful to Damien Bartoli for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Damien Bartoli with the assistance of Fred Ross, the Bouguereau Committee and the Art Renewal Center.
Secrets d'amour belongs to the host of "fantasy paintings" inspired by classical antiquity, or rather visual translations of Classical poets. Marius Vachon reports that in his interview with the artist, Bouguereau claimed to find constant inspiration in antiquity, which he eagerly transferred onto canvas because it provided an inexhaustible source for exploring themes of intemporality. His objective in these artistic explorations was to achieve beauty of form and harmonies of color in order to work up compositions which were at once charming, gracious and delicate. No doubt inspired by the artist's reading of Pausanias, to whose work he had always been partial, Bouguereau's pictorial dream world developed gradually through the years, reaching its apogee during the 1890s.
Secrets d'amour depicts a beautiful young girl leaning against the basin of a fountain, an important symbol in the artist's oeuvre and present in many of his paintings. The girl appears to be in deep meditation, and though to hide the fact that she is in reality under the spell of, and attentive to, the advice being whispered to her by the winged figure of Love. The girl is captive, her destiny at the mercy of Love.
It should be noted that Bouguereau painted another, almost identical painting probably at the same time as he was working on the present painting - a very rare occurrence in Bouguereau's oeuvre. Titled Rêverie, it could easily be confused with the present painting, were it not for the fact that the girl assumes a slightly different pose and the Cupid is absent.
The model for this picture, a young Parisian girl named Odile Charpentier, must have been among Bouguereau's favorites that year as she appears in two other paintings from 1896, La vague and Meditation.
Secrets d'amour was photographed by Braun and Clement (cat. No. 5557).
We are grateful to Damien Bartoli for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Damien Bartoli with the assistance of Fred Ross, the Bouguereau Committee and the Art Renewal Center.