The Young Shepherdess was painted in 1885 by William Adolphe Bouguereau on a 62 by 28 and a half inch canvas with oil paint, and is currently owned by the San Diego Museum of Art, given as a gift to the museum in 1968 by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin S. Larsen (“The Young Shepherdess”, 2014). The painting depicts a young woman tending to her flock of sheep. The young woman in this painting appears to be a typical youth, she is assigned what are most likely her chores for the day, to watch over this flock of sheep while they graze. Her body faces her flock of sheep, but her head turns to face the viewer. She seems to be distracted, she is looking away from the flock, almost appearing to gaze at the painting’s viewer, but simultaneously looking past that, …show more content…
This is exemplified by an entry in “The Art History Blog”. The entry reads, “Bouguereau in particular was not the most realistic depictor of the characters in his genre scenes, especially his peasant shepherdesses, above. While his paintings are high in realistic rendering—rendering that is, in fact, even too realistic—the subjects are all highly idealized and perfected. These shepherd girls are beautiful, clean-footed, dressed in unfashionable but intact, clean clothes, and sport noble, solemn expressions.” (“Bouguereau and the Italian Peasant”, 2014). This article references Bouguereau’s depictions of shepherdesses as a whole, so the analysis of “The Young Shepherdess” may be more in depth. It is possible that his painting of this young woman in particular is meant to represent the perfection and innocence of youth. She certainly seems as though she could be a manifestation of the qualities of youth deemed to symbolize perfection, while simultaneously being a very real, tangible, person. There are also certain qualities that cannot be reconciled with the painting’s otherwise extreme realism. The blur of the locks of hair surrounding her head, flowing in the wind, almost seem to create a halo around her head that blends seamlessly with the sky that gives her appearance an ethereal, otherworldly quality. This serves to further her idealized …show more content…
He demonstrated artistic talent as a youth, and was allowed to attend the drawing school of M. Alaux. At this school, “His fellow pupils, almost without exception, intended to be artists, and felt a contempt for Bouguereau on account of his business occupations; thus, when at the end of the year he took the prize for which all had striven, the excitement was so great that a riot occurred, and the pupils made a formal protest against his receiving it, but without effect.” (Erskine-Clement, 79-80). This type of reaction to Bouguereau’s success became quite typical within the art community. The impressionist and realist painters of his era despised his rigidly academic style, and commercial incentives. He was paid top dollar for his works, and even though he had great passion for his work, he realized that in order to succeed financially, his subjects must reflect the tastes of the market. This is perhaps one of the most intriguing things about Bouguereau, that despite the fact that his works were often commissioned, and that he was expected to paint certain subjects, his work still showcased a remarkable amount of passion and energy. The most successful period of his career was after his return to France in 1854, where “he became an immensely successful and influential exponent of academic art, upholding traditional values and contriving to exclude avant-garde work from the Salon” (Chilvers, 68). This is the period in
A women known as Truth is shown in the middle exuding a bright light surrounding Confidence, who is showing maternal instinct over her child. Another woman believed to be Ignorance is wearing rags and appears in the bottom left corner, struck in fear as her child is being consumed by the monstrosity known as Falsehood. The painting itself is believed to be an allegory created by Lilly, who in her own words, explained its importance to women. “Truth is shown in female guise because woman, the first instructor of “mankind in its innocence”, has particular need for Truth’s enlightenment and
At a first glance, one can tell the painting is about the Virgin Mary. She has long, wavy, hazelnut brown hair that reaches to her mid back. The focal point is the cloak draped over Virgin
One of the most effective principles Paolo de Matteis uses in this painting is his use of lines and invisible lines to direct the viewer’s attention to the child in his mother’s arms. The shepherds and their animals, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph are all instances of invisible lines in this painting, as their outstretched hands and lines of vision are all pointing to the baby Jesus. For example, the three women and the child kneeling to the bottom right side of the manger are all staring or pointing to the upper left, toward Jesus. Moving to the upper right corner of the painting, the ox and the donkey are directing their gaze to the bottom left, once again at Jesus. The two men to the right of the animals also point in that direction. In the top and center, Mary and Joseph watch their child, creating yet another invisible line pointing toward the point of emphasis, while the angels
The piece of work that I critiqued was Thomas Buchanan Read’s painting, The Angel Appearing Before the Shepherds, the painting was oil on canvas and it was finished in 1870. The museum purchased the work of art in 1983 and it currently is in the 19th Century American Art gallery. The work of art is
One day in 1893, Pierre Bonaire strolled on the streets of Paris. Many years later, he will be the post-impressionist Zongjiang, founder of the Nabi School of painting and the world, but then, he was just a 26-year-old solo painter. In the street, he helped a girl cross the road, and then occasionally began to chat: she said he was 16 years old, called Mardel de Mellini, first came to Paris, working in the flower shop. Later she became Bonnard's model, and then naturally become the lover of Bonnard.
In the foreground of the painting, a crowd of people gather around the recently resurrected Lazarus. There are roughly fifteen individuals in the crowd in a variety of postures, many of which are contorted and turned away. Furthermore, their forms are painted with considerable emphasis on the way that their respective limbs are bent and twisted which consequently creates a peculiar confined space in which much of the content and action is contained. The outstretched arms and warped bodies of the figures create two diagonal lines which cross over each other in the center of the painting, leading the eye to the primary subject and the focal point, Lazarus. To the left of him is a younger woman looking outwards, contrasting with the focused inward gaze of the crowd. Additionally, the same women mentioned previously also dons a striking white garment similar to that of
The portrait is displayed horizontally with a gold trimmed frame. The subject is a female that looks to be in her early 20’s sitting upright on a large brown chair. If the viewer travels up the painting the first indication of the woman’s class is her satin, blue dress. The saturated blue shines and falls in the light like water. Paired with the dress are her exceptionally detailed endings to her sleeves. The lace is even painted as though it is translucent, allowing a little of the blue dress to show through the sleeve. Flowers throughout history have symbolized innocence of a woman and her virginity. The repeating theme of flowers, in the sleeve cuffs and ribbon) in the woman’s attired suggests her purity or innocent nature. Another very details section of the painting includes the corset/torso details. The sewing suggests texture in the torso with small beading in between. Towards the top of the chest in the center, the female seems to bear an extravagant, ribbon piece with a tear drop bead in the center. The light pink
The portrait is painted onto a black background, giving the total focus to the subject, who is looking directly at the viewer. This particular piece creates a sense of closeness and lends beauty to this particular woman.
The viewer can see and feel the bond between the mother and the child. I also think the artwork is beautiful and makes a deep impression on the viewer, because of the innocence and peaceful appearance of the infant. The woman has such an intense gaze with the way she is looking at the infant; it gives each viewer an opportunity to interpret it in their own way, concern or admiration, all part of motherhood. The woman’s body language is intriguing because she is replicating the infant’s arm position, maybe to find her own peace. In my search, I discovered that Berthe Morisot was a famous female artist in the 19th century, and in making a choice, this piece of art quickly caught my
The way in which Bouguereau painted represents how passionate he was in depicting what he saw. The
The focus of the painting is a woman in bright yellow. This woman stands above the crowd, showing only her back and a hunched figure. Her posture suggests that she is shy, self conscious and is afraid of the spotlight that she suddenly finds herself in. Her head is bowed which hides her face and deters us from seeing her identity. She looks as if she carries a great burden on her shoulders. She shares her pedestal with another woman in red who is smirking and confidently showing herself off. She, unlike the other woman, displays herself to be seen by all. She leans against the building behind her, her arm thrown to the side, which opens up her posture. Her confidence is worn as easily as her revealing
The art and beauty in this painting is exemplified through the eyes of Boucher. It starts with a beautiful couple taking a rest after picking up some followers. Their clothing looks very elegant and colorful which shows that they are aristocrats. The man’s eyes are gazing at a shepherdess who gathered her own flowers. Their eyes are locked despite the man having his own woman right in front of him. The light brushstrokes of the dresses, flowers, and trees
Northern Art often focused on the world at large; they rarely painted religious works of art without including some sort of symbolism of the real world in there artworks. In terms of the real world, in the context of this painting, I feel that the architecture and the clothing take away from the religious focus. The clothing is very detailed and the oil
With Leon Bakst he saw the reproductions of Fauve canvases, the sketches of Van Gogh and of Cezzanne his ambition to go to Paris was
By the time he was seventeen, Monet was already making money from his work and had won a local reputation as a caricaturist. Skillful and amusing, his caricatures were displayed in the window of a local frame maker, Monsieur Gravier, where they drew crowds of appreciative viewers. Gravier also displayed paintings by the landscape painter Eugene Boudin, who was an old friend of his. Monet's development of friendship and informal tutelage of Boudin proved to be formative for Monet's future direction as a landscape painter. (Gordon, 38)