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Lot Essay
During the 1880s, Bouguereau devoted more of his oeuvre to painting inspired by Greco-Roman mythology, offering to his clientele a glimpse into a beautiful, yet dreamlike universe - a place where men, heroes, demi-gods and gods all lived in perfect harmony, even surrounded by serene and benign animals. The master worked throughout the decade developing this dream world, weaving it throughout his oeuvre until it reached its zenith in the 1890s.
Bouguereau referred to these works as tableaux de fantasie, and they were frequently based upon the verses or surviving epigrams of Classical poets, such as Longus or Meleager. Bouguereau was an avid reader of the Classics in his youth, and this interest was reinforced by his travels to Ravenna, Padua, and Pompeii. His Classical figures have a monumentality and vitality that derives directly from the artist's unique imagination and his vision of Classical antiquity.
Inspiration was painted in Paris in 1898 and is formidable example of the later work of the artist, and it clear that Bouguereau has spent decades refining his technique and searching to attain in painting the complex image of the ideal.
Between 1896 and 1898 Bouguereau painted this sitter several times. Her name was probably Odile Charpentier. True to nature down to the very selection of his subject matter, Bouguereau also chose a sitter from the Italian community of Paris to pose for his Classical theme. This Italian model appears in a variety of other paintings such as Irène, Le voile, and Le rêve. It was common for Bouguereau to ask several models to sit for him for one picture, and in this manner he could be inspired by different attributes of each model to closer approximate his image of the ideal.
Braun and Clement published a photograph of this painting under the same title, no. 4661.
We are grateful to Damien Bartoli for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Damien Bartoli with the assistance of Fred Ross, the Bouguereau Committee and the Art Renewal Center.
Bouguereau referred to these works as tableaux de fantasie, and they were frequently based upon the verses or surviving epigrams of Classical poets, such as Longus or Meleager. Bouguereau was an avid reader of the Classics in his youth, and this interest was reinforced by his travels to Ravenna, Padua, and Pompeii. His Classical figures have a monumentality and vitality that derives directly from the artist's unique imagination and his vision of Classical antiquity.
Inspiration was painted in Paris in 1898 and is formidable example of the later work of the artist, and it clear that Bouguereau has spent decades refining his technique and searching to attain in painting the complex image of the ideal.
Between 1896 and 1898 Bouguereau painted this sitter several times. Her name was probably Odile Charpentier. True to nature down to the very selection of his subject matter, Bouguereau also chose a sitter from the Italian community of Paris to pose for his Classical theme. This Italian model appears in a variety of other paintings such as Irène, Le voile, and Le rêve. It was common for Bouguereau to ask several models to sit for him for one picture, and in this manner he could be inspired by different attributes of each model to closer approximate his image of the ideal.
Braun and Clement published a photograph of this painting under the same title, no. 4661.
We are grateful to Damien Bartoli for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Damien Bartoli with the assistance of Fred Ross, the Bouguereau Committee and the Art Renewal Center.