Gathering Daisies

Jules Cavé was born in Paris in 1859, but there are few other biographical details available about this talented artist’s life. Cavé began his career as a painter in 1877, as a student at the Académie Julian. Here he found himself among the pupils of William Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury, and completed his studies in 1879. From a letter written by Bouguereau to his daughter, Henriette, in 1886, we know that Cavé joined Bouguereau’s studio around the same time as he attended the Académie, and remained after the completion of his studies. Cavé seems to have become a friend of Bouguereau’s, although their relationship was certainly not as close as Bouguereau shared with many of his other students. Regardless, like many of Bouguereau’s pupils, Cavé seems to have wholly adopted his master’s Academic style, palette, and particular interest in pastoral subjects and figures. Much like Bouguereau would often return to certain favored models in creating his compositions, Cavé too painted this this particularly charming girl several times, often gathering daisies. A related work from three years earlier than the present painting, featuring the same model, was sold at Christie’s London on 22 June 2002