William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Bouguereau simply loved to paint. “Every single day I go to my studio with great joy, and in the evening, when I have to stop work because of the darkness, I can hardly wait for the next morning to start again.” The hard work paid off, as he was showered with honours. He was elected a life member of the French Academy and received the same honour from the Dutch and Belgian Academies. Shortly before his death he was appointed Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. His happiness and success, however, were overshadowed by private bereavements. Four of his five children died, and he lost his wife, Nelly, in 1876. That year he painted the Pietà (pictured), a heart-rendingly personal depiction of Christ’s death, with which he commemorated the death of his 16-year-old son, Georges. (In June 2010 the picture sold at auction for 2.77 million dollars, the second highest sum ever paid for a Bouguereau painting up to then.)

From the page of The Dance

The year 1896 was a milestone in Bouguereau’s life: in February he lost his mother, whom he duly mourned, and in June he married Elizabeth Gardner. (The bride wore a black-and-white dress befitting the occasion.) By then, however, he was already past the peak of his art; in 1892 he confessed to Henriette, his daughter from his earlier marriage, that he “finds painting more and more difficult.” To the end of his life Bouguereau remained a steadfast supporter of young artists, always fighting for their right to exhibit at the annual Salons. But he had no time for the moderns: “Nowadays,” he explained in 1895, “painters go too far, as do realist writers and novelists. One cannot say where they will draw the line.”

From the page of Plums