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| William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) | ||||||||||
| Bouguereau was born in La Rochelle and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts between 1843 and 1850. In 1850, he shared the Grand Prix de Rome scholarship with Baudry, with the subject being Zenobia on the banks of the Araxes. On his return from Rome in 1855, he was employed to decorate several aristocratic residences, drawing inspiration from the frescoes he had seen at Pompeii and Herculaneum. He had also begun to exhibit regularly at the Salon in 1847. The state later commissioned him to paint the emperor's visit to the victims of the Tarascon inundations. In 1857, Bouguereau received a first-prize medal. Nine of his panels, executed in wax painting for the mansion of M. Bartholomy, were much discussed. While in antique subjects he displayed much grace in design, in his Napoleon, a work of evident labour, he showed a lack of ease in the treatment of modern costume. Bouguereau continued to exhibit works, and at the 1900 Exhibition, some of his best-known pictures were contributed. Most of his works are widely known through engravings. While Bouguereau's pictures were highly appreciated by the general public, they were severely criticised by those advocating for a freer, fresher style of art, who reproached him for being too content to revive the formulas and subjects of the antique. At the Paris Exhibition of 1867, he received a third-class medal; in 1878, a medal of honour; and the same again at the Salon of 1885. He was chosen by the Society of French Artists to be their vice-president, a position he filled with much energy. Bouguereau succeeded Isidore Pils as a member of the Institute in 1876. He died in his native city. | ||||||||||
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Art