William Bouguereau

Goupil & Cie stock books (Boussod Valadon, vol. 4), Paris, May 20, 1864, from the artist, no. 1183
M. Holloway, London (acquired from the above, July 20, 1864)
Goupil & Cie, Paris (acquired from the above, April 1866, no. 2139, 2500FF)
Mr. W.S. Groesbeck, Cincinnati (acquired from the above, September 28, 1869)
Mrs. and Mrs. Joseph Tanenbaum, Canada (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, October 24, 1996, lot 136, illustrated)
American Private Collection (acquired at the above sale; and sold: Sotheby's, New York, October 26, 2004, lot 72, illustrated)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Goupil & Cie, Editeurs, "Carte Album", Paris, circa 1864, no. 88, illustrated
Edward Strahan, Art Treasures of America, Philadelphia, 1879, vol. II, p. 78 (illustrated), p. 80 (mentioned), and in the 1977 facsimile edition, vol. III, pp. 72, 74, (illustrated with a facsimile of a sketch, p. 72)
Ludovic Baschet, ed., Catalogue illustré des oeuvres de W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1885, p. 16 (for discussion of the Salon version belonging to the Musée des Beaux-Arts)
Marius Vachon, Catalogue de l'oeuvre de W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1900, pp. 95, 146 (for a discussion of the Salon version mentioned above)
Robert Isaacson, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, (exhibition catalogue), 1974, no. 4, pp. 14, 23 (for a discussion and illustration of the Salon version)
Louise d'Argencourt, The Other Nineteenth Century, Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Tanenbaum, Ottawa, 1978, p. 54
Mark Steven Walker, Chronology: William Bouguereau 1825-1905, Paris, 1984, p. 62 (for mention of the Salon version)
Robert Isaacson, "Collecting Bouguereau in England and America", W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1984, fig. 34, p. 105, illustrated
Fronia Wissman, " The Change to Genre", Bouguereau, San Francisco, 1996, pl. 17, pp. 30-31, (for a discussion and illustration of the Salon version)

Bouguereau exhibited one of his earliest triumphs, a larger version of the present work at the landmark Paris Salon of 1859 (no. 335) and again at the Exposition Universelle in 1867 (no. 69). Its compelling subject attracted sympathetic notice from several leading critics.  Paul de Saint-Victor's reaction to the work was enthusiastic: "Beneath their mourning garb, the bereaved strike a classic pose resembling an elegy by Bion - this elegantly and poignantly rendered group could be shedding tears on the tomb of a young Greek killed at Marathon or at Salamine..." (as quoted in Vachon, p. 95). As a result of its successful reception, the Salon version was acquired that year for the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux. It remains one of the most frequently requested loans in its collection.

Louise d'Argencourt addresses the possible date of the work: "it is difficult to date with precision the small-scale replicas Bouguereau made of his large Salon pictures...according to Baschet and Vachon, the replicas were often done for purposes of engraved reproduction and were made immediately after the parent Salon paintings, but it is also probable that some of them were done several years later" (d'Argencourt, p. 54).

In Edward Strahan's The Art Treasures of America, a work entitled Le Jour des Morts is listed as belonging to Mr. W.S. Groesbeck of Cincinnati (Strahan, vol. III, p. 74). It is illustrated with "a facsimile of a sketch from the original" (Strahan, vol. III, p. 72).  Although no dimensions are given, Mr. Groesbeck's illustrated version of Le Jour des Morts and the present work are presumably one and the same. The records of Goupil & Cie, Paris, record that a work of this title was sold to Mr. Groesbeck in 1869.

The Salon picture, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, was exhibited at the 1994-5 Origins of Impressionism exhibition (as no. 19) held at the Grand Palais, Paris, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.