Lot Essay
Bouguereau's methods of preparation were true to the Salon tradition, in that he produced numerous drawings before working in oil. By 1888, he was elected Professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he promoted his traditional Academic working methods to his students. For certain students, such as Henri Matisse, this method of working was too rigid but for others the chance to study under the leading French painter of the time was seen as an incomparable opportunity which could ultimately assure their own success in the Academy system. The Canadian portrait painter John Wycliffe Lowes Froster wrote about his experience in Bouguereau's atelier:
I placed myself under William Adolphe Bouguereau and his associate Tony Robert-Fleury, in the atelier on the rue d'Uzs. Words are inadequate to convey... a true portrayal of the discipline, the concentration, as also the relaxations and camaraderie, of a Julian School under such men as these...I presently brought a portrait study of a woman, painted, as I believed, in attractive pose and accessories. But, never, never, shall I forget his fatherly "Ah, mon ami!" He proceeded then to enumerate the unnoticed faults--in line relation, in the pose chosen, in the colour vagaries I had fallen into--and to emphasize the possibilities of charm in a subject having so many excellences which I had entirely overlooked. (Quoted in M.S. Walker and Borghi & Co., op. cit., p. 57)
The present picture was painted in 1880, the same year as Temptation (fig. 1). Bouguereau uses the same model in both paintings, each reclining in a lush garden setting. The artist has cast aside his customary sentimentality, which appealed to the bourgeoisie on both side of the Atlantic. Rather he focuses on the idealized view of the French peasant girl, which recalls the images of rural life, portrayed such artists as Jules Breton. Undoubtedly he was aware of Correggio's
masterpiece, Magdalene (fig. 2), popular in Europe during the
latter half of the nineteenth century, reproduced in photographs,
engravings and prints, from which Bouguereau adapted his
personification of female piety.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming Bouguereau
catalogue raisonn being prepared by Gerald Ackerman and Graydon Parrish.
(fig. 1) William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Temptation, 1880, The
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
(fig. 2) Antonio Allegri called Correggio, Magdalene, formerly Staatliche Gemlde Galerie, Dresden
I placed myself under William Adolphe Bouguereau and his associate Tony Robert-Fleury, in the atelier on the rue d'Uzs. Words are inadequate to convey... a true portrayal of the discipline, the concentration, as also the relaxations and camaraderie, of a Julian School under such men as these...I presently brought a portrait study of a woman, painted, as I believed, in attractive pose and accessories. But, never, never, shall I forget his fatherly "Ah, mon ami!" He proceeded then to enumerate the unnoticed faults--in line relation, in the pose chosen, in the colour vagaries I had fallen into--and to emphasize the possibilities of charm in a subject having so many excellences which I had entirely overlooked. (Quoted in M.S. Walker and Borghi & Co., op. cit., p. 57)
The present picture was painted in 1880, the same year as Temptation (fig. 1). Bouguereau uses the same model in both paintings, each reclining in a lush garden setting. The artist has cast aside his customary sentimentality, which appealed to the bourgeoisie on both side of the Atlantic. Rather he focuses on the idealized view of the French peasant girl, which recalls the images of rural life, portrayed such artists as Jules Breton. Undoubtedly he was aware of Correggio's
masterpiece, Magdalene (fig. 2), popular in Europe during the
latter half of the nineteenth century, reproduced in photographs,
engravings and prints, from which Bouguereau adapted his
personification of female piety.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming Bouguereau
catalogue raisonn being prepared by Gerald Ackerman and Graydon Parrish.
(fig. 1) William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Temptation, 1880, The
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
(fig. 2) Antonio Allegri called Correggio, Magdalene, formerly Staatliche Gemlde Galerie, Dresden