William Adolphe Bouguereau

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905) Rêverie sur le seuil signed and dated 'W. BOUGUEREAU 1893' (upper right) oil on canvas 37¾ x 23¾ in. (95.8 x 60.3 cm.) Frank Totton Heffelfinger, Minneapolis, 1900, possibly acquired directly from the artist. Totton Peavey Heffelfinger, Minneapolis, 1959. Thence by descent to Marcus W. K. Heffelfinger. PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF MARCUS W. K. HEFFELFINGER, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA D. Bartoli and F. Ross, William Bouguereau: Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, New York, 2010, p. 286, no. 1893/09, illustrated. Among Bouguereau's most desirable images are his sensitive depictions of young peasant girls. In these works, the artist captures a sentimental evocation of youth and coveys the ideals of beauty, purity and hope that were central to his artistic philosophy. These themes and images were central to the artist's oeuvre well into the 1890s. With their high finish and meticulous attention to detail, these paintings were highly sought after by collectors in Europe and abroad. William Bouguereau was a compulsive draughtsman whose final paintings were the result of numerous preliminary sketches he made of models within the confines of his Paris studio. He was known to sketch drapery, hands and faces until he thoroughly understood the form properly and then he would incorporate these studies into his final paintings in order to achieve the heightened sense of realism upon which his artistic reputation was based. In Rêverie sur le seuil, Bouguereau has incorporated all of the elements that made these paintings of French peasant girls so desirable to collectors both at the end of the 19th century as well as today. The young girl is presented to the viewer in three-quarter length and close to the picture plane, thereby monumentalizing her image. This is further enhanced by the simplicity of the background -- a plain doorway and step that serves to frame the image of the young girl and define her in space. This peasant girl offers no apologies; although the title indicates daydreaming, she engages the viewer with an intent and direct gaze, a conceit that also serves to concentrate all attention on the image of the young girl. Bouguereau has overlooked no detail, from the manner in which her pristine white blouse defines the shape of her shoulders and her skirt subtly captures the form of her legs and knees, to the virtuoso handling of her hands clasping her arms, culminating in the perfection of her lovely face. In the May 1879 issue of the art journal L'Art contemporain, the chronicler Adrien Désamy observed, 'It is said that no one is better versed than Victor Hugo to speak of women and children, one can similarly exclaim, that in our times, no one is more skilled to paint women and children like M. Bouguereau.' Rêverie sur le seuil is a recent and exciting discovery. In Damien Bartoli's catalogue raisonné on the artist, the painting is listed with no provenance and as 'location unknown.' It is illustrated only by the photograph from the collection of the artist (fig. 1). The painting was purchased in 1900 by Frank Totton Heffelfinger of Minneapolis, Minnesota and graced the family home, Highcroft, from 1916 until 1952 where it hung in the dining room (fig. 2). When Highcroft was torn down in 1952, the painting moved to Maplewoods. Upon Frank Totton Heffelfinger's death in 1959, the painting was moved to Shadowood, the residence of Totton Peavey Heffelfinger. Marcus W. K. Heffelfinger was the next owner and it is from his estate that this wonderful and hitherto unknown work has come to light.

LOT 30 PROPERTY OF TWIN TOWERS, A LIFE ENRICHING COMMUNITY, CINCINNATI, OH, SOLD TO SUPPORT THE OPERATIONS AND PROJECTS AT TWIN TOWERS WILLIAM BOUGUEREAU 1825 - 1905 LA BRANCHE DE CERISIER (THE CHERRY BRANCH) signed W-BOUGUEREAU and dated 1881 (lower right) oil on canvas 63 by 43 1/4 in. 160 by 109.9 cm

Lot Description William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905) Marchande de grenades signed and dated 'W. BOUGUEREAU 1875' (upper right) oil on canvas 45½ x 35 in. (115.6 x 88.9 cm.) Lot Condition Report I confirm that I have read this Important Notice and agree to its terms. View Condition Report Provenance The artist. with Goupil, Paris, acquired directly from the above, 6 December 1875. with Samuel Avery, New York, July 1876. (possibly) William III, King of Holland for his palace, Het Loo. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Goodyear, Buffalo, New York. with Tony Sisti, Buffalo, New York. Dr. and Mrs. Casimir G. Jenczeski, Amherst, New York, acquired from the above. Private collection, New York. with Rehs Galleries, Inc., New York. Private collection, New York. Saleroom Notice Please note that the present lot is signed and dated 'W. BOUGUEREAU 1875' in the upper right corner. Pre-Lot Text THE PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN COLLECTOR Literature M. Vachon, W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1900, p. 152. M. S. Walker, William-Adolphe Bouguereau L'Art Pompier: A Summary of the Paintings, New York, 1991, p. 70. J. Thompson, The East Imagined, Experienced, Remembered, Orientalist Nineteenth Century Painting, exh. cat., Dublin & Liverpool, 1988, p. 48. D. Bartoli and F. Ross, William Bouguereau: Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, New York, 2010, pp. 168-169, no. 1875/16, illustrated. Exhibited Buffalo, Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Paintings Owned by Citizens of Buffalo, 10-24 October 1907. View Lot Notes ›

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905) Marchande de grenades signed and dated 'W. BOUGUEREAU 1875' (upper right) oil on canvas 45½ x 35 in. (115.6 x 88.9 cm.) The artist. with Goupil, Paris, acquired directly from the above, 6 December 1875. with Samuel Avery, New York, July 1876. (possibly) William III, King of Holland for his palace, Het Loo. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Goodyear, Buffalo, New York. with Tony Sisti, Buffalo, New York. Dr. and Mrs. Casimir G. Jenczeski, Amherst, New York, acquired from the above. Private collection, New York. with Rehs Galleries, Inc., New York. Private collection, New York. Please note that this lot is signed and dated 'W. BOUGUEREAU 1875' in the upper right corner. THE PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN COLLECTOR M. Vachon, W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1900, p. 152. M. S. Walker, William-Adolphe Bouguereau L'Art Pompier: A Summary of the Paintings, New York, 1991, p. 70. J. Thompson, The East Imagined, Experienced, Remembered, Orientalist Nineteenth Century Painting, exh. cat., Dublin & Liverpool, 1988, p. 48. D. Bartoli and F. Ross, William Bouguereau: Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, New York, 2010, pp. 168-169, no. 1875/16, illustrated. Buffalo, Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Paintings Owned by Citizens of Buffalo, 10-24 October 1907. In the 1870s, Bouguereau painted a small number of Orientalist works of which the present lot is arguably the most sophisticated example. Having already made a name for himself with his poignant portraits of the French peasantry, Bouguereau began experimenting with Eastern subjects in 1870 with Jeune fille orientale (fig. 1). Bouguereau's careful attention to the young woman's gleaming jewelry, intricate vest, delicately tied sash and draped fabrics, shows the artist reveling in the possibilities offered by this new foreign subject. Yet, it would be another five years before Bouguereau returned to painting the East with L'Orientale à la grenade (fig. 2). In this later work, Bouguereau eliminated all contextual details and instead focused just on the figure of what is most likely an Egyptian girl. The girl's intended ethnicity is suggested only by her elaborate silver jewelry and zabut, the loose brown shirt she wears, both typical of North African design. Within months, Bouguereau again painted this same model in Marchande de grenades, this time clearly placing her on the streets of Cairo. The young pomegranate-seller sits on the ground near the distinctive Bab Zuwayla, the southern gate of the Fatimid city of al-Qahira built in Cairo in the late 11th century. The vantage point of the painting suggests that the girl is at the entrance of the Tentmakers Market, looking north along the side façade of the 15th century Zawiya-Sabil, built by the Sultan Farag ibn Barquq. Given the specificity of Bouguereau's painting, it would seem that the artist had traveled to Cairo and familiarized himself with the city's people and architecture. Indeed, a finished drawing of Marchande de grenades at the Ashmolean Museum suggests that Bouguereau dedicated a great deal of time to ensuring that the painting was accurate (fig. 3). Yet, Bouguereau never ventured to the Orient, or what is today considered the Middle East and North Africa. Like many of his contemporaries, Bouguereau learned of these distant lands second-hand through exhibitions, photographs, illustrations and paintings by Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Léon Gérôme and others. By 1875, the French taste for L'Orient was expansive. The growing demand for images of these tantalizing, far-off places led a variety of artists east and produced a still greater number of armchair-travelers. This new group of 'ethnographic' painters, as the French critic Charles Perrier had called them, came to prominence at the Salon of 1857 (C. Perrier, 'L'Art français au Salon de 1857,' Peinture, sculpture, architecture, Paris, 1857, p. 92). There Gérôme had shown his Egyptian Recruits Crossing the Desert that was inspired by the artist's first trip to Egypt in 1856. The painting made a profound impression upon visitors and critics and may have piqued the interest of a young Bouguereau who was himself exhibiting at the Salon. While Bouguereau was enjoying considerable success at the time for his portraits and mythological subjects (he in fact received the Medal of Honour at the Salon of 1857), one can imagine the enterprising artist taking note of those works that commanded the most attention. If not Gérôme's Egyptian Recruits Crossing the Desert, there was no shortage of images of Egypt at the Salon and elsewhere that could have sparked Bouguereau's initial fascination with the country. In lieu of traveling to Egypt, Bouguereau may have immersed himself in the writings and illustrations of William Henry Bartlett. Bartlett's popular On the Nile by Boat or Glimpses of the Land of Egypt first published in 1850 is a richly illustrated account of the author's adventures along the mighty river. Included in this text is Bartlett's description and depiction of the Bab Zuwayla (fig. 4). Bouguereau's interpretation of the formidable gate bears a striking resemblance to Bartlett's images. In fact, Bouguereau's rendering of the Bab Zuwayla is more like Bartlett's image than what the French artist would have found in Cairo had he ventured there in 1875 since the minarets crowning the gate had been damaged by an earthquake in 1863 and were not rebuilt until 1892. Despite this discrepancy between reality and art, Bouguereau's painting manages a seemingly faithful representation of its subject. The brilliant sunlight striking the Bab Zuwayla and the bustling street below conveys an immediacy that is as fresh today as it would have been for the 19th century French viewer. The roughly-hewn, sun-bleached wall behind the young pomegranate-seller perfectly frames and contrasts with the girl's smooth-tanned face. Above all, however, the most arresting aspect of the work is the girl's penetrating gaze, which invites us into the painting and imploringly asks us to purchase her pomegranates. By presenting the girl with a basket of pomegranates, Bouguereau signals her position as a worker rather than one who simply enjoys the sweet fruit as seen in L'Orientale à la grenade. As an academically-trained artist, Bouguereau no doubt also knew of the pomegranate's symbolism in the canon of western painting. Renaissance masters Raphael, Botticelli and Filippino Lippi all painted the Virgin Mary holding an infant Christ clutching a pomegranate. In these iconic images, the vibrant fruit represents the Passion of Christ. Perhaps less well-known, however, is the pomegranate's association with the Virgin's chastity, as exemplified in The Unicorn Tapestries, now in The Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. If Bouguereau intended for the pomegranates in Marchande de grenades to be symbolic, he most likely meant for them to signify the virtue of chastity. The selling of pomegranates would thus imply the loss of such a virtue in Bouguereau's young street worker. More simply, however, the basket of pomegranates may be Bouguereau's narrative nod to the bustling streets of Cairo as lively centers of commerce. Shortly after completing the work, Bouguereau sold Marchande de grenades to his influential dealer Adolphe Goupil. A brilliant businessman, Goupil frequently promoted Bouguereau's paintings through the sale of prints and photographs. A print of Marchande de grenades, now in the Witt Library, indicates that the painting was one that Goupil choose to publicize. Goupil's strategy served him well as he sold the painting for the large sum of 10,000 francs to the prominent American dealer and collector Samuel Avery. Avery likely purchased the painting during one of his extensive buying trips to Europe where he acquired numerous contemporary works by some of the continent's greatest masters. According to the early writers on Bouguereau, Charles Vendryès and Marius Vachon, the painting later passed into the collection of William III, King of Holland and was placed on view in his royal palace at Loo. By the early 20th century, Marchande de grenades had made its public debut in the United States at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. There the painting would have been admired by what was already a large Bouguereau-loving American public. These visitors no doubt marveled, just as we do today, at Marchandes de grenades' intriguing narrative details and evocative portrait that places the work among the very best paintings in Bouguereau's oeuvre. We are grateful to Caroline Williams for her assistance in identifying and providing information on the exact location depicted in this painting.

WILLIAM ADOLPHE BOUGUEREAU (1825 - 1905) naar Rechthoekig plaket in Limoges email met voorstelling van de Madonna. Onleesbaar monogram met nummer ’’663’’ en signatuur ’’W Bouguereau’’ . Afmetingen : 13 x 9 Lot 14 Schatting : 750 € - 1000 € Verkoopdatum : 22/10/2012