William Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905). Bohémienne au tambour de Basque (réplique), 1867. Oil on canvas. 39-1/2 ...

Description

William Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905)
Bohémienne au tambour de Basque (réplique), 1867
Oil on canvas
39-1/2 x 25-1/4 inches (100.3 x 64.1 cm)
Signed lower left: Bouguereau


PROVENANCE:
The artist;
Goupil & Cie, Paris, acquired from the above, July 2, 1867;
Robert Hué, New York, acquired from the above, July 8, 1867;
Private collection, New York;
Sotheby's, New York, May 21, 1987, lot 100;
Christie's, New York, February 15, 1995, lot 48;
Christie's, New York, May 6, 1998, lot 217;
Private collection, New York.

LITERATURE:
Bouguereau's accounts, as Petite saltimbanque (réduction);
Goupil's stockbooks, as L'enfant perdu (reproduction du no. 2858);
D. Bartoli and F. Ross, William Bouguereau, Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Work, Vol. II, New York, 2010, pp. 96-97, no. 1867/05A, illustrated.

In a recent email to Heritage Auctions, Fred Ross observed: "There are only two or three occasions in Bouguereau's life when he painted an exact-size replica of a painting (as opposed to a reduction which he did dozens of times)." This painting is one of them.

Although Ross' predecessor, Damien Bartoli, described this work in his catalogue raisonné note as a studio replica of Bohémienne au tambour de Basque, Ross sees little evidence of any hand but Bouguereau's in it, emphasizing that unlike Bartoli he had the advantage of basing his assessment upon firsthand inspection of the original, while Bartoli had to rely upon less than optimal quality photographs. Ross comments that "the catalog [raisonné] note points out a difference in the background. It was not unusual for Bouguereau to change some details of backgrounds when painting a reduction. . . . For example, [in] L'Orage, 1881, he completely altered the background which I'm certain he felt improved the composition when painting the reduction... You can safely list this work as William Bouguereau with full attribution."

We are grateful to Fred Ross for confirming the cataloguing of this painting with a full attribution to William Bouguereau.









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