Gustave Doyen

Goupil, July 16, 1877 (acquired directly from Bouguereau)

Knoedler Galleries, New York, April 12, 1877 (acquired directly from the above)

Frederick G. Bourne, Indian Neck Hall, Oakdale, Long Island (now La Salle Military Academy)

Thence by descent to his daughter; sale, Sotheby's, New York, February 12, 1997, lot 120, illustrated

Bouguereau account books, 1877 as La toilette de l'enfant (reduction)

Goupil sale records as Jeune fille habillant son frère (reduction)

C. Vendryes, Bouguereau, éditions L. Baschet, Paris, 1885 as La grande soeur (reduction of the same painting), p. 56

M. Walker, William-Adolphe Bouguereau L'Art Pompier, ``A Summary Catalogue of the Paintings,'' New York: Borghi & Company, 1991, p. 70

In 1877, Bouguereau painted La grande soeur, a large-scale work that measured 146 x 89cm. Bouguereau chose to exhibit it, along with ten other compositions, at the Universal Exposition of 1878.

As was frequently the case, Goupil, Bouguereau's exclusive representative, requested a reduction of the work, a smaller-sized replica of the original. On July 16, 1877 Bouguereau delivered the reduction to Goupil, signed the piece but did not date it, a practice Bouguereau adopted so as to distinguish original paintings from reductions.

Bouguereau generally did not like painting reductions, he considered his time and inspiration best spent on new projects; however, at the beginning of his career, Bouguereau painted the reductions himself but by the conclusion of the Paris Commune, he ''balked'' at this repetitive task. Therefore, Bouguereau often entrusted the reductions to his pupils and disciples. Bouguereau requested his assistant and friend Gustave Doyen to paint the current reduction of La grande soeur, a request clearly substantiated by his account books.

Bouguereau was obviously quite satisfied with the work, as he affixed his signature to the composition, after indubitably touching up and improving upon the weaker areas.