William Adolphe Bouguereau – Early years between religion and fine art
William Adolphe Bouguereau was born on 30 November 1825 in La Rochelle. The son of a wealthy family of wine and olive merchants, he received a catholic-influenced upbringing, whilst seeing his younger sister die at the age of seven. Five years later at the age of twelve, William himself came into the care of his uncle Eugène, priest of Montagne-sur-Gironde, and went on to develop a lie-long love of nature, literature and religion. In 1939, his uncle sent William to study for the priesthood in Pons and it was here at the catholic high school that Bouguereau received his first drawing lesson from Louis Sage, a student of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Upon request of his family, by this time living in Bordeaux, Bouguereau reluctantly left his studies and returned to his parents and siblings. Once in Bordeaux, he made the acquaintance of local artist Charles Marionneau who mediated Bouguereau attendance at the city drawing school, where he soon excelled as best-in-class and decided to become an artist in Paris.
Fruitful study years in Paris and Rome
In March 1846, William Adolphe Bouguereau went to Paris, financed by the sale of portraits, accomplishing the impressive workload of 33 oil paintings in only three months. Due to the omittance of a signature, however, these early works are difficult to assign. William Adolphe Bouguereau attended the École des Beaux-Arts and joined the studio of François-Édouard Picot, with whom he had studied academic painting. In addition, he took courses in anatomy and archaeology and was interested in historical costume. His fascination for mythological and historical subjects awoke in him the desire to gain a better understanding of the Italian Renaissance and thus applied three times for the Prix de Rome, winning it on his third attempt. He was then able to undertake a three-year residency in the Villa Medici in Rome where he studied Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. He also visited Amalfi, Naples, Capri and Pompeii before settling once again in Paris In April 1854.
Painterly perfection impresses and provokes
William Adolphe Bouguereau was married twice: to his model Nelly Monchablon until her death in 1877 and to his student Elizabeth Jane Gardner who was the first female painter to win a Gold Medal at the Salon de Paris. Although he often based his pictures on classical models, he enlivened them by suggesting movement. His recourse to antique icons allowed him to extensively depict nudes without fear of moral condemnation, although some artist friends found the lifelike depiction of naked women too daring: For forty years, one of Bouguereau’s most famous pictures, ‘Nymphs and Satyrs’ was believed to be lost because the owner preferred to keep it under wraps for moral reasons. For the following generation of avant-garde artists, Bouguereau’s highly polished perfectionism was a provocation, with Edgar Degas speaking contemptuously of a “Bouguereauté”.
William Adolphe Bouguereau died on 19 August 1905 in his hometown and place of birth, La Rochelle.
William Adolphe Bouguereau - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
