Provenance
The artist’s studio
The descendants of the artist
Catalogue note
Bouguereau received decorative commissions – both sacred and secular – throughout his long career. He designed and painted the interiors of private mansions and was put in charge of the decoration for three major Paris churches – St. Clotilde, St. Augustin, and St. Vincent de Paul. For each one of these projects, Bouguereau would execute numerous preparatory drawings and oil sketches, as well as large scale cartoons done to scale for the final images in the church. Our cartoon was for The Marriage of the Virgin in the Lady Chapel of St. Vincent de Paul.
The church had been consecrated in 1844, and the decorative cycle of paintings was completed by Hippolyte Flandrin and François-Édouard Picot in 1853. The architect, Édouard Villain was later hired to design the Lady Chapel in 1870 and following the Franco-Prussian War, discussions commenced over the paintings “for the new chapel [which] must be confided to one of several artists of the highest standing.” (See Georges Brunel, “Bouguereau the Decorator of Parisian Churches”, in William Bouguereau, Paris, 1984, exh. cat, p. 92). Interestingly, unlike the previous decorations for St. Clotilde and St. Augustin, which relegated the paintings to the architectural confines of the churches, the St. Vincent de Paul cycle instead consisted of eight large-scale paintings depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin. The series was begun in 1884 and completed in 1889 with The Marriage of the Virgin and The Virgin at the Foot of the Cross.
For the most part, Bouguereau’s small oil studies and large-scale cartoons were not meant for public display or consumption; most of them remained in his Paris studio. The appearance of our cartoon provides an opportunity to fully appreciate an important stage in the creative process of one of the greatest 19th century French Academic painters. No detail is ever left to chance; every element of the composition is always thought out as so beautifully rendered here in the tender hand gesture between Mary and Joseph.
Bouguereau’s paintings in the Church of St. Vincent de Paul are currently undergoing a major restoration campaign, with several of the images already returned to the vibrant colors that Bouguereau intended.