William Bouguereau

Goupil & Cie., Paris (acquired directly from the artist, December 1869, no. 4664, as Retour du marché; femme de Fouesnant)
Thomas McLean Gallery, London (acquired from the above in January 1870)
Marquis de Santurce, England (and sold, Christie’s, London, April 25, 1891, lot 98)
Joyce (acquired at the above sale and sold, Christie’s, London, April 22, 1893, lot 68)
Robinsons Collection, London
Arthur Tooth, London (acquired from the above in July 1893 and sold to an unknown New York collector in November 1893)
Private Collector (probably after 1909)
Thence by descent

Stanford, California, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, 2003 to 2012 (on extended loan from the present owner)

Charles Vendryes, Dictionnaire illustré des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1885, p. 45
Marius Vachon, W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1900, p. 150
Mark Steven Walker, “William-Adolphe Bouguereau, A Summary Catalogue of the Paintings," William-Adolphe Bouguereau, L’Art Pompier, exh. cat., Borghi & Co., New York, 1991, p. 68
Damien Bartoli with Frederick C. Ross, William Bouguereau, Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, New York, 2010, pp. 120-1, no. 1869/16 (with incorrect measurements and provenance), illustrated p. 121
Damien Bartoli with Frederick C. Ross, William Bouguereau, His Life and Works, New York, 2010, p. 169, illustrated opp. p. 171, pl. 71

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting has been recently structurally supported around the edges, but it is not lined. The cracking is quite raised along the top edge and in other areas such as the lower center, for example. However, the paint layer is stable. It seems that despite the recent restoration the paint layer is still dirty. This is a fairly early work by the artist and the quality will become more visible if the work is properly cleaned. The cracking in the sky may, be an issue for some viewers, but this can easily be remedied with a safe lining. However, the painting can also be hung in its current condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

As a result of government-sponsored ethnographic studies of the nineteenth century, Brittany, France’s northwestern province, was deemed a rustic, if not entirely archaic, region; its people held firmly to the language, religion and cultural traditions of their sixth century Celtic ancestors. This inspired throngs of travelers curious to experience the uniquely preserved culture firsthand. Among the visitors was William Bouguereau who visited Brittany for the first time with his family in August 1866. A group of paintings and drawings made during this trip stand as a travel diary of the artist’s stops in Rosporden, Kersos, and Beg-Meil, with the architecture of Pont-Aven and Concarneau of particular interest. Bouguereau returned to the area each summer through 1870, and during this time he explored Brittany’s southern shoreline extensively. He spent long periods in Morbihan and Finistère, and its village of Fouesnant, the setting for the present work (Bartoli and Ross, William Bouguereau, His Life and Work, p. 169).

In Jeunes filles de Fouesnant revenant du marché, two girls carry pottery (perhaps to hold the region’s famous cider) and other wares in woven baskets, the heavy weight balanced confidently atop head or against hip, while a third has stopped to rest contemplatively on a rock. While Brittany subjects are relatively rare within the artist’s oeuvre, Jeunes filles de Fouesnant revenant du marché is one of an even more select series of paintings depicting the daily life of the region’s people. In addition to the present work, this group includes its compositional pendant Lavandières de Fouesnant (Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York) and three versions of Le Voeu à Sainte-Anne d'Auray, in which young girls are shown praying, kneeling close to the devotional chapel of the patron saint of Brittany (sold in these rooms on October 23, 2007, lot 43, fig. 1). The central model of Jeunes filles de Fouesnant revenant du marché appears throughout this series, while the church steeple visible on the horizon links the composition to the sacred subject of Le Voeu à Sainte-Anne-d’Auray, further unifying the artist’s vision of Breton culture.

Through the late 1860s and into the 1870s, clearly influenced by his summers in Brittany, the number of Bouguereau’s works inspired by Italy declined in favor of compositions of French rural life (Bartoli and Ross, p. 169). Yet despite these new sources of inspiration, Jeunes filles de Fouesnant revenant du marché reveals the artistic lessons learned over the artist’s years of travel in Rome and the surrounding countryside in the early 1850s. During this time Bouguereau filled sketch books and canvases (just as in Brittany) with copies of Renaissance masterpieces, drawings of ancient artifacts, the people he encountered, and the colorful landscapes of the idyllic hill towns. The trip profoundly moved the artist, evidenced in works like the present lot. Bouguereau’s study of Antique sculpture seems to inform the posture of the central model standing in contrapposto as she carries her laden basket, while the careful balance of the multi-figured and complex composition, and the use of saturated colors, particularly the vibrant blue sky, recall the Renaissance masters. Yet Jeunes filles de Fouesnant revenant du marché is unmistakably of Brittany, from the stone church and slate roofs of the village to the girls’ customary costumes emblematic of the region. Bouguereau had carefully studied and appreciated the Breton people and their dress and became somewhat of a cultural authority. The American artist and student of Bouguereau, Eanger Irving Couse, remembered that when showing his teacher his attempt to paint a Breton woman, Bouguereau criticized him for inaccuracies: “never under any circumstance would they let their hair be seen so he must put a cap on her. [Bouguereau] told him to put on one of their big mourning cloaks.” (as quoted in James F. Peck, In the Studios of Paris, William Bouguereau & His American Students, exh. cat., Tulsa, 2006, p. 132). Combining personal observation and technical brilliance, Jeunes filles de Fouesnant revenant du marché is Bouguereau’s truthful yet aesthetic vision of the Breton people.