"Young Shepherdess" (French: "Jeune Bergere")

Who Painted this? William Adolph Bouguereau

Where is he from? France

When was this painted? 1868

What is this made of? Oil on canvas

"All Souls Day at the Camposanto, Pisa"

Who painted this? Pierre Auguste Cot

Where is he from? France

When was this painted? 1872

What is this made of? Oil on canvas

Some of the most renowned artworks in the Appleton Museum of Art’s collection are the works by William Adolph Bouguereau and the masterpiece by his student and friend, Pierre Auguste Cot. Let’s take a closer look at the work of master and student starting with Bouguereau’s “Young Shepherdess.”

The artist often used a standard format when creating his paintings. For example, he:

• Placed the subject of the painting in the center of the picture plane.
• Surrounded the main figure(s) with identifying clues as to their occupation or location.
• Depicted people as unrealistically clean with unblemished skin despite their being working-class people.

When looking at “Young Shepherdess,” you see that Bouguereau stuck to his traditional format; the young girl is in the center of the picture plane and in the background is another shepherdess, a dog and two groups of sheep, which all give clues as to her occupation. Even though this girl would have been outside working in the sun, her skin shows no signs of sunburn or roughness and her clothing is surprisingly immaculate.

Now let’s look at the spectacular “All Souls’ Day.” As you can see, Cot grouped three figures in the center and gives the viewer clues that the family is in a churchyard at dusk: much like his teacher Bouguereau. Cot does introduce something that is unconventional — he paints the main female figure making intense eye contact with you, the viewer. This is a marked departure from Bouguereau’s style because his figures rarely make eye contact, and when they do, it is usually a soft, non-confrontational gaze.

Fun Fact: Henri Matisse was a pupil of Bouguereau, too. Ironically, Bouguereau was not impressed with Matisse’s drawing skills so he kicked him out of his atelier.