Young Mother Gazing at Her Child

Young Mother Gazing at Her Child

Young Mother Gazing at Her Child

Artist:
William Bouguereau (French, La Rochelle 1825–1905 La Rochelle)
Date:
1871
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
56 x 40 1/2 in. (142.2 x 102.9 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Bequest of Zene Montgomery Pyle, 1993

This doting mother in picturesque dress and her angelic offspring are two of many such figures that Bouguereau painted with an eye to the international market. The scene is highly similar in subject and composition to Breton Brother and Sister, also dated 1871 (hanging nearby), and both works were bought by New York collectors—a testament to the popularity that the artist’s scenes of "princesses dressed up as milkmaids" enjoyed in America.

Provenance
[Goupil, Paris, 1871–72; stock no. 6009; purchased from the artist, as "La Toilette (Italienne et son enfant)," on December 23, 1871, for Fr 8,000; sold on April 27, 1872, for Fr 17,000, to Knoedler]; [M. Knoedler, New York, from 1872]; Mrs. J. T. Pyle, New York (from the 19th century); her daughter, Zene Montgomery Pyle (until d. 1993)

Copyright Image
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