William Bouguereau

Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired directly from the artist)
Cercle de l'Union de Limoges (acquired from the above, 1863)
Private Collection, Paris
Galliera Sale, Couturier and Nicolay, Paris, November 29, 1969, lot 7, illustrated
Collection of Maurice Rheims
A Private Foundation (and sold: Sotheby's, London, November 27, 1991, lot 202, illustrated, as Cain and Abel)

Paris, Salon, 1861, no. 316

Charles Vendryès, Dictionnaire illustré des Beaux-Arts: Bouguereau, Paris, 1885, pp. 21-24
Marius Vachon, W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1900, p. 147
Louise d'Argencourt, "Bouguereau et le marché de l'art en France," William Bouguereau, exh. cat., Paris, 1985, p. 97, illustrated p. 99
Mark Steven Walker, "A Summary Catalogue of the Paintings," William-Adolphe Bouguereau, L'Art Pompier, exh. cat., New York, 1991, p. 66

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting is in marvelous condition. The canvas has an old glue lining and the paint layer is stable. The texture of the paint is still very prominent. There is a small amount of retouching addressing some frame abrasion and a tiny spot above the Madonna's head yet there appears to be no other retouching. This picture is in splendid and unusually good condition which, in its beautiful frame, should be hung as is.
"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."

Bouguereau was 35 years old when he submitted La Première Discorde to the Salon of 1861 (fig. 1).  As an artist trained in Paris at the École des Beaux Arts and as a candidate for the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1848, 1849 and 1850, he understood that critical success in these important institutions meant playing by the rules. Large scale paintings that depicted historical, mythological and religious subject matter were more likely to be greeted with critical success.   Bouguereau's depiction of Cain and Abel is one such example of a preferred subject.   The critics were positive in their reviews, citing the sculptural quality of the figure group.  The well known critic, Théophile Gautier remarked that it brought to mind the works of Michelangelo (Théophile Gautier, Abécédaire du Salon de 1861, Paris, 1861, pp. 63-65). 

While the composition of La Première Discorde finds precedent in the older prototypical figure groups by Michelangelo, or even perhaps the Virgin and Child compositions by Raphael and other Renaissance masters, Bouguereau's novel interpretation of the subject  depicts the origins of  the well-known, and ultimately deadly, sibling rivalry between Cain and Abel.  Traditional representations of the Biblical story (Genesis 4:1-16), have the rivalry between the two brothers emerging only  in early manhood.   Bouguereau on the other hand, opts to show the first seeds of Cain's jealousy in their infancy.  Bouguereau would have been no stranger to the emotions of sibling rivalry, being a father of five children with his first wife, Marie-Nelly Monchablon (three sons and two daughters).  While Bouguereau would certainly never have compared any of his children to the evil Cain, daily life in the Bouguereau household would nonetheless have included episodes of quarreling children and a gently intervening mother.  In La Première Discorde, Eve, draped in a soft animal hide, shows no signs of favoritism toward either of her two sons, but acts as a mother, arbitrating a sibling dispute.  Bouguereau hints at the events to come by showing the young Abel, frightened and seeking protection from his brother, while Cain stands defiantly, his brow furled in anger, barely tolerating his mother's embrace. The setting may have been inspired by the countryside outside of Rome, a landscape Bouguereau would have seen during his Prix de Rome days. The "sequel" to La Première Discorde appeared at the Salon of 1888, when Bouguereau submitted Premier Deuil (The First Mourning), a work that showed a prostrate Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel.

Adolphe Goupil became Bouguereau's exclusive dealer after October 1866.  By this time, Bouguereau's reputation had been established by the critics, and all that was required for financial success was a new direction in subject matter.  Goupil understood that the market - a market that was starting to announce itself in America - was looking for scenes of domestic sentimentality. While Bouguereau would always regret not being able to follow his vocation as a painter of religious subjects, perhaps he was at least able to take comfort in the knowledge that the prototypes for his later shepherdesses, young girls and infants were his first paintings of Eve, Mary, the Infant Jesus, the young Saint John the Baptist, and the angels or cherubs who often accompanied them. That is to say, Bouguereau's earliest sacred subjects later found expression in secular scenes of familial bliss.

La Première Discorde was copied by the American painter Evans DeScott and is in the Collection of Oberlin College.