William Bouguereau

Sold directly by Bouguereau.

Private collection of Solomon Mehrbach, New York, NY.

A.A.A., New York, sale of March 1, 1906, Lot 128 (as The Gardener's Daughter).

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Collection of Colonel Nathan H ; Heft, Bridgeport, Connecticut.

A.A.A., New York, sale of January 22, 1920, Lot 72 (as The White Rose).

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Private Collection, New York.

A.A.A., New York, sale of November 17, 1938, Lot 64 (as The Wild Rose).

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Collection of Michael J ; Kutza, USA.

Sotheby's, New York, sale of April 28, 1977, Lot 169 (as The Gardener's Daughter).

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Private Collection, North Carolina.

"North Carolina Collects: Traditional Fine Arts and Decorative Arts," Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, July 9-September 18, 1994, no. 7 (as Peasant Girl).

William Bouguereau's Accounts, as L'odorat.

Amable Charles Franquet de Franqueville, "William Bouguereau" in Le Premier Siècle de l'Institut de France, Vol. I, J. Rothschild, Paris, 1895, p. 370 (as La Fleur).

Marius Vachon, W. Bouguereau, A. Lahure, Paris, 1900, p. 159 (as L'odorat).

Braun & Clément, Oeuvres Choisies des Maîtres Anciens et Modernes, Braun, Clément et Cie., New York, 1907, no. 5445 (illustrated as La Fleur Préférée).

Mark Steven Walker, William Bouguereau: A Summary Catalogue of the Paintings, New York, 1991, p. 74.

Damien Bartoli and Frederick C. Ross, William Bouguereau: Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, Vol. II, Antique Collectors' Club , New York and Art Renewal Center, Woodbridge, NJ, 2010, no. 1895/12, pl. 225 (illustrated as La Fleur Préférée).

This graceful image of a young peasant girl is an excellent example of the work of one of the most popular painters of the nineteenth century, William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Known for his flawless technique, Bouguereau was admired by many for his life-sized oil paintings of mythological subjects, as well as for romanticized portraits of peasant girls, cupids, and nudes. In addition to his themes of innocence and purity of youth, Bouguereau’s compositions have a sensual quality that elicit an emotional response from the viewer. Through his exquisite technique of drawing, application of soft textures, and subtle coloration, Bouguereau creates a mood of such peaceful harmony that he elicits a sweeping range of sensory responses. Provisionally titled L’odorat (“sense of smell”) by the artist, the painting reveals a peasant girl who has paused on her walk, demurely holding a flower to her nose as if to take in its sweet perfume. The tonal greens and blues of the background serve to highlight and contrast with the purity of the bouquet of white flowers that the maiden holds at her waist. While the white flowers suggest purity, the small drooping red flowers also represent the fleeting innocence of youth. The artist further amplifies his theme of modesty by covering the girl’s shoulders with a scarf embroidered with delicate blue and white flowers. The lighter purple of the hydrangea flower offsets the deep plum color of her apron, which may be concealing more blooms in her skirt, as if to protect them, and perhaps her innocence, from the outside world.

The French painter moved to Paris at the age of 20 to study with the neoclassical painter François-Édouard Picot. After his admittance into the École Royale des Beaux-Arts, Bouguereau won the Grand Prix de Rome prize in 1850 and moved to Italy to continue his studies. His polished brushstrokes and subject matter were rejected by his contemporaries, the French Impressionists, yet he continued to enjoy great success, especially with wealthy clients who purchased his paintings for enormous sums. His work attracted Adolphe Goupil (of Goupil & Cie), a powerful art dealer who acquired several of his works throughout the 1870s to sell to American collectors. Although Bouguereau’s works fell out of favor with buyers in the 20th century, a revival of interest in his paintings in the 1980s caused a resurgence in the sales of his works. The preparatory sketch for this work was sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2018.