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拍品专文
In early 1878, William Bouguereau painted a large work similar to the present painting entitled Fleurs de Printemps which measures 48 7/8 x 22 5/8 inches (Private Collection, USA). Its subject was a magnificent full-length portrait of a standing girl with long blond curls parted à la Venetien style. She is depicted at the side of a forest path, carrying an armful of spring flowers. Bouguereau would use the same model again in his famed composition titled La prière, which can also be dated to this same year.
Due to the popularity and positive reception of Fleurs de Printemps amongst his colleagues and friends, Bouguereau asked his assistant, Gustave Doyen, to reproduce it. The reproduction was not meant to be a reduction of the same composition, but instead it was to be treated as if it were an entirely different work. The present painting is the same width yet shorter in height than Fleurs de Printemps, and depicts the same charming model holding an armload of flowers. In this version of the composition, the figure is not shown full length, but rather with the composition extending only just past her knees, and set against a dark brown and uniform background. Bouguereau's account books provide evidence that Gustave Doyen was paid a minimum of three hundred francs and possibly more for this work, as Bouguereau often advanced money to his assistant. Before affixing the work with his signature and the date, however, Bouguereau scrupulously retouched and reworked the painting himself as his commercial reputation would have very much been at stake.
Due to the popularity and positive reception of Fleurs de Printemps amongst his colleagues and friends, Bouguereau asked his assistant, Gustave Doyen, to reproduce it. The reproduction was not meant to be a reduction of the same composition, but instead it was to be treated as if it were an entirely different work. The present painting is the same width yet shorter in height than Fleurs de Printemps, and depicts the same charming model holding an armload of flowers. In this version of the composition, the figure is not shown full length, but rather with the composition extending only just past her knees, and set against a dark brown and uniform background. Bouguereau's account books provide evidence that Gustave Doyen was paid a minimum of three hundred francs and possibly more for this work, as Bouguereau often advanced money to his assistant. Before affixing the work with his signature and the date, however, Bouguereau scrupulously retouched and reworked the painting himself as his commercial reputation would have very much been at stake.