William Bouguereau

Arthur Tooth & Sons, Ltd., London (acquired from the artist in 1890)
Liddell (acquired in 1892)
Arthur Tooth & Sons, Ltd., London
Monsden (acquired in 1892)
Private Collection, England
Theodore Marburg (and sold: American Art Association, New York, March 15, 1907, lot 74)
Arthur Tooth & Sons, Ltd., London, no. 4478 (acquired at the above sale)
Boussod, Valadon et Cie., New York (acquired in 1908)
Sale: Christie's, New York, October 26, 1988, lot 70
Private European Collection (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 1997, lot 131, illustrated)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

By the 1890s, Bouguereau had attracted a huge following both in England and in France. Premiers bijoux, for example, was acquired by the London dealer Arthur Tooth before it was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1892, where it hung alongside his masterpiece Le Guêpier (Invading Cupid's Realm), sold in these rooms on May 26, 1904.

Premiers bijoux’s pre-Salon sale is representative of Bouguereau’s huge following in England by the 1890s.  While Arthur Tooth was the prominent dealer of Bouguereau's work in these later years, the artist's relationship with the English market long predates this period. From their earliest association, Durand-Ruel did a brisk business selling Bouguereau's paintings to English dealers and private collectors, although Durand-Ruel himself did not hold exhibitions.  In fact, it may have been a London dealer, Ernest Gambart, who first publicly exhibited Bouguereau's work outside of the Salon. Later, Goupil would supply the increasing demand for Bouguereau in England.
Despite the evolving market for his works, Bouguereau continued to adhere to the fundamental precepts of the Academy, the most notable of them being that art is defined as the search for the Ideal: "In painting, I'm an idealist...Painting what one sees just as it is, no --- or at least, not unless one is immensely gifted. Talent is all-redeeming and can excuse anything. Nowadays, painters go much too far, just as writers and realist novelists do. There is no way of telling where they'll draw the line. I prefer poets; each to his own taste." (William Bouguereau, Paris, Montreal and Hartford, 1984, p. 53)

A print was made of Premiers bijoux by Braun and Clément (no. 3707) at the turn of the century.