William Bouguereau

Goupil, acquired directly from the artist (March 10, 1870, stockbook no. 480a)
M. Wallis, London (acquired from the above)
Private collection, United States
Kurt Schon Gallery, New Orleans
Acquired from the above

Charles Vendryès, Dictionnaire illustré des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1885, p. 45
Marius Vachon, W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1900, p. 150
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. 68
Damien Bartoli with Frederick Ross, William Bouguereau, Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, New York, 2010, p. 128, no. 1870/03, illustrated

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work is restored and could be hung in its current condition. The canvas has an old lining. The condition of the paint layer is not particularly good. Under ultraviolet light, it can be seen that there are numerous retouches in the sky around the head and headdress. There are fewer restorations in the face, but there are retouches around the mouth, in the forehead and particularly around her right eye. There are spots of retouch in her headdress and numerous retouches in her white blouse. Bouguereau’s technique is very carefully crafted in this work. The restorations are broad, badly matched and do not serve the picture well. A more accurate campaign of retouches would certainly make a big difference, but the work is presentable nonetheless.
"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."

In the 1850s and early 1860s, the influential art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel – who ultimately became the champion of the Impressionists – was instrumental in steering Bouguereau away from his more grave and dramatic religious and mythological scenes toward gently moralizing genre works which held greater public appeal. Peasants provided popular subject matter for artists in the nineteenth century as more people relocated to industrialized cities, urban audiences viewed their pastoral counterparts with fascination and probably envied what they perceived to be a humble, uncomplicated and more gratifying way of life. As Fronia Wissman writes: “City dwellers, from the time of Theocritus in the early third century B.C., have viewed people living in the country with a mixture of alarm and envy. In the pastoral tradition the peasant was seen to possess a simple and honest character, living an equally simple life, in tune with nature and apart from, even ignorant of, artifice. One “peasant-type” familiar to French society was the peasant from Italian opera and theater, first imported into French royal courts, where prettily dressed shepherds and shepherdesses found love among the sheepfolds and around the village well” (Fronia E. Wissman, Bouguereau, Petaluma, 1996, p. 46).

The model in the present work is likely Adele Abuzzese, who also appears in a number of works from the period including La Femme au Gant (1870, Private collection), Italienne à la fontaine (1870, Private collection) and Jeune Italienne puisant de l’eau (1871, Private Collection and sold in these rooms, May 23, 1997, lot 136). Painted in 1870, when Bouguereau was at the peak of his technical virtuosity and one of the most popular and sought-after artists of his generation, Le bouquet de violettes is an excellent, early example of one of Bouguereau’s peasants in Italian dress. The crisp cyan sky and hues of the model’s costume and formality of the composition suggest the influence of the Renaissance masters and particularly Raphael, whose work Bouguereau had greatly admired since his first trip to Italy after winning the coveted Prix de Rome in 1850.