William Bouguereau

academic-art

Bouguereau Paintings 1825 - 1905 France, Academic Classicism

Boucles D'Oreilles [The earrings], 1891

Oil on canvas

Public collection

Figurative Art

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OIL PAINTING: Boucles D'Oreilles [The earrings], 1891
The quality of reverie that is present in so many of Bouguereau's oil paintings shows clearly to what extent the artist's romantic disposition prevailed in concert with his classical forms. Bouguereau's alchemical transformations, in which objects, costumes, and the like are removed from the realm of the familiar and transplanted in a distant, archetypal and poetic world, continued a practice with a long academic tradition perhaps most famously articulated by Poussin. Robert Isaacson has observed: "It is noteworthy that Bouguereau tried in every way to avoid signs of contemporary life, even in his choice of costume (a timeless 'peasant' dress), setting the scene in a never-never land of pure beauty."