William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) French academic painter

"William Bouguereau is unquestionably one of history's greatest artistic geniuses. Yet in the past century, his reputation and unparalleled accomplishments have undergone a libelous, dishonest, relentless and systematic assault of immense proportions. His name was stricken from most history texts and when included it was only to blindly, degrade and disparage him and his work. Yet, as we shall see, it was he who single handedly opened the French academies to women, and it was he who was arguably the greatest painter of the human figure in all of art history." (Damien Bartoli, artrenewal.org)

The Grape Picker, 1895

Bacchante

at the fontaine

Reflection

Maternal admiration