Hugues Merle

Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 10 November 1998, lot 215

Much acclaimed during his own lifetime for his highly finished depictions of family life, historical subjects and the pathos experienced in the lives of the less fortunate French-notably working women, merle was most often associated with his friend and rival William Bouguereau. In fact, it was at the urging of their mutual friend and art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, that Bouguereau took up Merle's highly successful theme of family love on which the latter had built a solid reputation with Salon entries from 1847 and awards during the 1860s. Later they both found lucrative employment with Goupil, and Merle became the teacher of Bouguereau's American wife, Elizabeth Gardner.