William Adolphe Bouguereau Biography | Oil Paintings

Even though William Adolph Bouguereau won't be an easily recognized name today, he was an extremely very well and very credited artist of his time. His family was wine shippers. His Uncle Eugene taught him Latin, Greek, classic mythology, and the Bible. He additionally took drawing lessons, in which he instantly demonstrated his ability.

When William Adolph Bouguereau turned 21 he had raised sufficient cash to go to Paris and study at the art studio of Francois-Edouard Picot. In 1850 he won first place in front of the rest of the competition at the Prix de Rome. His prize was four years of free educational cost at the Villa Medici, in Italy. There, he was instructed the methods of classical and Renaissance art. He additionally voyaged broadly, which affected a large portion of his later works.

After his tutoring in Italy, he came back to Paris. His work was regularly on show at the Salon. He won many honors, particularly for his portraits. Not at all like numerous artists, he was exceptionally famous with both people in general and the pundits. Bouguereau had a high social position. He was made a knight in 1859 and was granted numerous different prizes, for example, the Legion d'Honeur in 1876 and the Grand Medal of Honor. He became a grand officer of the Legion in 1903. He was additionally a member of Fine Art academies in Spain and Belgium.

Bouguereau wedded Marie-Nelly Monchablon, otherwise called Nelly, in 1856. Together they had five kids and lived in Montparnasse, Paris. Within five years three of his youngsters, and Nelly, his wife all passed away. His misery was reflected in several of his paintings.

In 1896 William Adolph Bouguereau wedded his most celebrated art student, Elizabeth Jane Gardner, after the demise of his first spouse and they remained together joyfully for the rest of their lives. He had fabricated a studio in La Rochelle, his birthplace, and painted there each summer. Throughout his life, Bouguereau executed 822 known completed canvases, even though the whereabouts of many are as yet unknown.

William Adolph Bouguereau was a staunch traditionalist whose genre paintings and mythological themes were modern interpretations of Classical subjects, both agnostic and Christian, with a fixation on the bare female human body. The romanticized universe of his paintings enlivened goddesses, fairies, bathers, shepherdesses, and Madonnas in a way that spoke to affluent art patrons of the time.

He additionally gained wide fame and popularity in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States, and commanded high prices.

Since 1975 prices for Bouguereau's works of art have climbed consistently, with major paintings selling at high prices: $1,500,000 in 1998 for The Heart's Awakening, $2,600,000 in 1999 for Alma Parens (The Motherland) and Charity in 2000 for $3,500,000.

Art Movement: Academic.
Artists Influencing William Bouguereau: Francois-Edouard Picot, Raphael.
He Traveled To Italy, Spain, Belgium.
Painters William Adolph Bouguereau Influenced: Henri Matisse, Elizabeth Jane Gardner.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist.