William Bouguereau

 

Few artists of the modern period experienced a reversal of reputation as stark as William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905). During his lifetime, this French Neoclassical painter was one of the most celebrated and commercially successful artists in the Western world, beloved by the bourgeoisie and honored by the French Academy.His meticulously rendered mythological tableaux, religious works, idealized nudes, and sentimental depictions of rural life were executed with technical brilliance and produced in great quantity for a devoted clientele.

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