A Young Girl Braiding a Crown of Flowers
Adolphe William Bouguereau, 1874
French Academic Classicism
Private Collection

French painter Adolphe William Bouguereau (1825 - 1905) was one of the greatest XIX century French painters and portraitists. His polished, refined technique represents the height of achievement in French Academic tradition. Bouguereau was most appreciated painter in his own time, and he received numerous awards and accolades, although his portraits of peasant girls were not appreciated by his contemporaries as they are now. His contemporary critics and supporters alike saw him as a leading exponent of academicism and a traditional formalism. They claimed his works lacked of innovation, create the illusion of living, are petty poetic and sentimental. His full-size peasant figures come to life with over-dramatized gestures. For almost hundred years following his death his portraits were banished from private collections, museums and official art circles. This year we celebrate the hundred anniversary of his death and re-appreciation his portrait paintings. Museums all over the world proudly hang on permanent exhibitions his portraits and other under-estimated paintings, long forgotten in basements, storage rooms and attics.

After short staying in Villa de Medici where he studied not only Italian old masters but also Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, for many years he remained under the influence of the beauty of the peasant life in Italy. In many of his paintings from 1870 - 1895 he depicted dazzling world of ordinary people and peasant girls in their day-to-day activities. "A young girl braiding a crown of flowers" (original title "Enfant tressant une couronne", signed in left upper corner "W-BOUGUEREAU-1874") painted in 1874 is such a painting about joys of childhood. It is also one of the most sensitive single figure paintings in his artistic career. In the center of the painting sitting young girl, beautiful and enigmatic braiding a crown of white flowers comes out into view. She is dressed in peasant clothes with green apron partly covering her yellow skirt, and holding an almost ready to wear white crown of flowers in her hand. She stares directly at a viewer with a serene kindness, as she would like to say that despite her lack of money and social status, she still can enjoy her life. The white crown of flowers expresses her youth, inner beauty and innocence. The dark green foliage hanging on the left side of the background is gently balanced by the light area in the right side of the composition.

Although he was highly respected in his day, he was accused by the impressionists for stopping them from showing their works in the French Salons. For impressionists he was often regarded as the embodiment of insipid middle-class taste. In fact, he made Salons available for impressionists. In every salon from 1873 forward there were always ten to twelve impressionist paintings shown. His name will also be always remembered as one who used all of his power, fame and influence to open the Academia Julien and L'Ecole des Beaux Arts to women. For the first time ever, women artists were permitted to study and train in the Academia des Beaux-Arts.