William Bouguereau

Tooth & Sons, Paris (as Jeune fille assise sur une pierre)
Knoedler & Co., New York (February 1903, no. 10212, as Jeune fille assise sur une pierre)
Henry Reinhardt, Milwaukee & Co., Michigan (1904)
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Taylor Robinson, Racine, Wisconsin (1905)
Capt. Sterling Judson, San Diego, California (by descent from the above, by 1983) 
Thence by descent

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. 75
Damien Bartoli with Frederick Ross, William Bouguereau, Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, New York, 2010, p. 349, no. 1903/01, illustrated

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work is in lovely condition. It is unlined. The paint layer is clean, and it has been varnished and retouched fairly recently. There is a restoration in the shadow of the cheek on the right. There appear to be a couple of small dots of retouching in the cheek on the left. There is a small group of retouches in the sky in the center of the left side. This is a late picture for the artist and is quite loosely painted. It is certainly likely that most of these retouches are cosmetic and not driven by any actual paint loss.
"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."

Au bord de la mer is a perfect illustration of Bouguereau’s best-known and most treasured imagery: young peasant children. This charming model was from La Rochelle and appeared in a number of the artist’s compositions from the period. Bouguereau’s extraordinary artistic ability is evident through the cascading wisps of hair that frame her face and her warm skin tones, as well as the varied textures that are convincingly laid down throughout the composition, from the fabric of her dress to her hands gripping the stone, and even the breezy atmospheric landscape behind her.

Shortly after Au bord de la mer was completed in 1903, it was sent to New York and offered at the influential New York gallery, Knoedler & Co. The gallery’s reputation extended far beyond New York; wealthy patrons, largely American entrepreneurs and tycoons eager to decorate their new mansions with iconic works of exceptional quality, built remarkable collections through acquisitions from Knoedler. While the gallery represented many Barbizon and French naturalist artists, Bouguereau remained one of the most popular and profitable of all of them. By 1904, Au bord de la mer was acquired by Henry Reinhardt & Co., a Milwaukee based dealer who also had galleries in Chicago, New York and Paris, and who prided himself on sourcing masterpieces from the world’s greatest art centers. A passage in his obituary reflects his unsurpassed commitment to the trade:

One of the famous early day pictures he brought to the city was one of Bouguereau’s masterpieces, “The Birth of Spring,” [unidentified] valued at $18,000. He found it impossible to obtain adequate insurance and so, while awaiting the opening of the Exposition where the picture was to be shown, he carried the canvas, rolled up on a roller, with him almost continuously and at night placed it alongside his bed. (“H. Reinhardt, Famous Art Critic, Dead,” Milwaukee Sentinel, Friday morning edition, January 14, 1921, p. 1, 8)

Richard Taylor Robinson purchased  in 1905, and the painting has been passed down through subsequent generations of his family to the present day. Mr. Robinson was a prominent entrepreneur who studied pharmaceuticals at the University of Michigan (class of 1879) and began his own business with a single stock of medicine in Racine, Wisconson. The business was immensely successful, but he left it in 1895 to become president of a local savings bank. In 1897 he was one of the purchasers of the J.I. Case Threshing Machine Company, and in 1904 a founder of the Racine Paper Goods Company. Mr. Robinson was rewarded well for his enterprising spirit and built an exceptional collection that included this fine painting by Bouguereau, as well as works by Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Cesare Auguste Detti and Jozef Israëls among other highly sought-after artists during America’s Gilded Age.