BOUGUEREAU, William Adolphe

Born in La Rochelle, France on 30 November 1825, William Adolphe Bouguereau displayed his rare talent for drawing at a very early age. Given a classical education by his uncle, a curate, he went on to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After two years of part time study, he won first prize for figure painting and his career was launched.

Bouguereau became a highly sought after portrait painter and was enthusiastically received by the public. They saw in his pictures a timeless beauty of great sensual, emotional and intellectual appeal. He became very influential as a teacher of drawing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Academie Julian. He remained a staunch supporter of the academic training system at a time, even when it was criticised for stifling originality and nurturing mediocrity.

‘Dante and Virgil in Hell’ (1850) was an early example of Bouguereau’s neoclassical style. At the time, academic painting prioritized historical and mythological themes, and Bouguereau was determined to win the prestigious Prix de Rome. This accolade offered a three-year residency at the Villa Medici in Rome, Italy, where he could not only receive formal training but also immerse himself in the works of Renaissance masters and study Greek, Etruscan, and Roman antiquities first-hand.

By the end of his long life he had painted close to seven hundred works. He won great popular acclaim, received medals for his art at expositions in France, Germany and the Netherlands, and was decorated by the governments of Belgium and Spain. In 1888 he was appointed a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and he continued painting and exhibiting until his death in 1905.