Lot 23
  • 23

William Bouguereau

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • William-Adolphe Bouguereau
  • Portrait of Marie-CĂ©lina Brieu
  • inscribed 7 février 1846 (lower left); inscribed and signed Terrefume 7 février 1846 W. BOUGUEREAU on the reverse
  • oil on canvas
  • 55 by 41 3/8 in.
  • 139.5 by 105 cm (painted within an oval)

Provenance

Acquired by the present owner from the Célina Brieu-Eymery family (descendants of the sitter)

Literature

Damien Bartoli with Frederick C. Ross, William Bouguereau, catalogue raisonné of his painted work, New York, 2010, pp. 14-5, no. 1847/04, (detail) illustrated 

Condition

This painting has not been lined. There is a 2 x 2" patch applied to the upper left of the reverse, though whatever is being addressed is concealed by the roundel frame. The colors are bright and fresh, and the surface is very healthy, with barely visible craquellure in isolated areas to the left of her face, her forehead, and above her head. Under UV, multiple small spots of inpainting fluoresce throughout the composition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

William Bouguereau painted the present work, dated February 1846, when he was just twenty years old, and living with his uncle Eugène, a priest in the small city of Charente-Maritime.  In order to raise funds for his impending move to Paris (he was enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts), Bouguereau used his uncle’s connections to secure early portrait commissions from local residents. Within three months Bouguereau had completed thirty-three portraits in at least seven townships including Saint-Dizant-du-Gua, where Jean Brieu and Therese-Rose Mariaud lived on the family vineyard with their daughter Marie Rose Appoline Celina Brieu (1823-1898), who, according to her descendants memory, is the sitter depicted in the present work. 

As told by the family, Célina and Bouguereau had known each other since they were children as their fathers worked together; Bouguereau’s father was a wine merchant in Bordeaux while Celina’s father was a wine producer in Saint-Dizant-du-Gua. Bouguereau and Celina probably met in Mortagne a few kilometers away from Terre Fume (the Brieu vineyard) when the young artist was staying with his uncle.  As years went by, Célina and Bouguereau grew closer and eventually were engaged to be married. Unfortunately as he was from a modest background Bouguereau could not marry Celina and, heartbreakingly, this portrait was said to have been ordered from him in honor of her engagement to Pierre Chery Eymery, formerly a postmaster. In Bouguereau’s diary from May 1848, less than a year after Celina’s wedding, he references an emotional break-up from which he still suffers.

The Portrait  of Marie-Célina Brieu is among Bouguereau’s first completed works. The drawing of the young woman’s hands, the detailed textures of her costume, as well as the fluidity of the light in the landscape reveal that, even at this early stage in his career, Bouguereau already possessed the skill that would make him the undisputed master of Academic painting in the late nineteenth century. 

Louise d’Argencourt confirms that the date inscribed at the lower left