A sample of paintings by 19th-century French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau expresses a talent fascinated by the tender beauty of motherhood. Regarded today as one of the best painters of human anatomy, he breathed life into his figures by capturing the subtle nuances of personality and mood.
Maternal Admiration
A steady accumulation of praise, commissions, and an annual display at the Paris Salon brought enormous interest to his expression of maternal affection. The idealized scenes of virtuous peasants, living a simple life in connection with nature, were quickly snapped up by American collectors, earning Bouguereau both international fame and fortune. Scenes of life in rural Italy were popular among his American clientele.
“Young Mother Gazing at Her Child” and “Le Lever“ (”Get Up") are two of many compositions painted with an eye to the international market. In both paintings, the young mother is clad in Ciociari costume, the historic dress of Italy, with a white blouse contrasting against the dark, voluminous skirt and embroidered sash.
The Neoclassical ideals of symmetry, clear forms, and the use of idyllic light, add drama and elevate the artistry. In the painting “Le Lever,” the girl’s reaching arms and the mother’s encirclement form symmetry in their loving embrace. The use of Chiaroscuro (light and shadow) contrasts the morning light filtered on the child’s face against the dark background, highlighting the love the child is feeling.
Common among the paintings in this series is the centering of both figures in the foreground, heightening the visual impact of the young mother and her child’s tender interaction. Triangulating his subjects into a visual hierarchy, Bouguereau borrowed from the classical structure of composition established during the Renaissance. With some of the background scene obscured in shadow, he therefore directs the viewers focus to the young mother and her child. The foreground objects and barely discernible background outlines further inform the scene’s narrative.
Consolation in Sorrow
By the 1870s, Bouguereau had been a married father for several years. But if he deepened his regard for motherhood by observing his wife and children, it came with genuine suffering. In 1866, Bouguereau’s 4-year-old daughter, Jeanne, passed away. This tragic event was the first in a series of bereavements. In 1875, his son, Georges, became sick and died at the age of 16. Bouguereau’s grief inspired two of his most beautiful religious works: “The Pieta” and “The Virgin of Consolation.”
That year, his wife Nelly also gave birth to their third son, Maurice. Their joy was short-lived, however. Nelly’s health declined following Maurice’s birth and she died in April, 1877. Two months later, baby Maurice died.
In “Vierge Consolatrice” (“The Virgin of Consolation”), we see the black-clad Virgin of Consolation. Across her lap lies a young woman inconsolable at the death of her child. As a steadfast Catholic, Bouguereau is said to have gained solace from this work.
Rarely has a life filled with so much tragedy been accompanied by such consummate achievement, as one masterpiece after another left his easel. He painted 12 oils in 1877, 17 in 1878 and 23 in 1879, including some of his greatest and most ambitious works.
Upholding Tradition
The decade of the 1870s was largely a sad time for Bouguereau. Perhaps, the only high point was his election to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Throughout his life, Bouguereau was a defender of the Academy and all that it stood for, and the honor of being elected a member was one he cherished. He once wrote, “to become a member of the Institute … is the only public distinction I ever really wanted.”
So resolutely did he defend tradition that the Impressionists, many among the most-famous artists of the generation after him, defined themselves against his standards and scorned his work. Nevertheless, when Bouguereau died in 1905, he was honored by grand funeral processions and memorials in Paris and his hometown of La Rochelle.
The recent return of classical ideals and traditional training methods has placed Bouguereau among its champions. According to Fred Ross, founder of Art Renewal Center, Bouguereau’s work enjoys continued laurels that show him “deserving of the highest accolades in the art world.”
Like the Neoclassical painters of his era, Bougeureau found guidance from classical Greek and Roman arts and architecture. He painted scenes of idealized beauty through effective balance and order in his compositions. Yet, he was still was able to beguilingly capture the delicate clarities of temperament and mood of motherly affection.
