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Bouguereau's Palette
Bouguereau never mentions a specific palette, but Moreau-Vauthier is again helpful in this regard; he gives it as:
- Naples Yellow (lead antimoniate)
- Yellow-Ochre
- Chrome Yellow, dark
- Viridian
- Cobalt Blue
- White Lead
- Light Vermilion
- Chinese Vermilion
- Mars Brown (iron oxide); this available from Lefranc & Bourgeois
- Van Dyck Brown
- Burnt Sienna
- Ivory Black
- Bitumen
- Genuine Rose Madder, dark.27
All of Bouguereau's colors are still available today as prepared artist's paints, but not from any single manufacturer. In one of his sketchbooks, Bouguereau lists so many pigments that no palette could possibly contain them, but it is interesting to note all the possibilities he had to choose from. 28
1869 [Sketchbook No. 5]
Manganese oil -- Leclerc, rue St. Georges...
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White lead (Silver White)
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Lead carbonate
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Ivory Black
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Charred Ivory
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Minium
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Lead
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Vermilion
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Mercuric sulphide
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Brown Madder
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Iron (charred)
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Cassius Red
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Tin bioxide and gold protoxide
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Iodine Scarlet (English)
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Mercuric iodine
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Purple Red
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Mercuric chromate
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Madder Lake
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[preparatation from madder root]
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Mineral Yellow (Paris)
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Oxi-chloride of lead
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Charred Massicot
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Lead bioxide and protoxide
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Minium, orange
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Charred ceruse (lead)
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Chrome
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Lead Chromate
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Orpiment (King's Yellow)
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Arsenic sulphide or yellow sulphide of arsenic
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Naples Yellow
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Lead oxide and antimony
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Ochre
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Hydrated ferric oxide
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Indian Yellow
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[precipitated urine of caged cows]
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Prussian Blue
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Iron protoxide sulphate and prussiate solution
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Mineral Blue
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Iron and [?]
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Ultramarine Blue
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Lapis Lazuli
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Cobalt
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Cobalt
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Smalt
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Powdered cobalt glass
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Ash Blue
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Copper
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Indigo
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Vegetable
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Violet
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Charred iron peroxide Cassius purple and alumina
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Verdigris
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Copper acetate
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Scheele Green
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Copper arsenate
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Mountain Green
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Copper carbonate
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Chrome Blue
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Chromium protoxide
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Cobalt Blue (mineral)
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Cobalt and zinc
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Viridian
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Sulfate of lime and copper aceto-arsenite
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Green Earth
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silica, iron oxide
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Sap Green
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Unripe buckthom berries (lake)
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Cassel Earth
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[coal byproduct]
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Cologne Earth
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Natural earth darkened mostly with bitumen
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Umber
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Natural earth colored with ferric oxide, manganese dioxide plus a little bitumen
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Sienna
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Ochreous natural earth and manganese (bioxide?) hydrate
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Prussian Brown
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Charred Prussian Blue
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Asphaltum
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Bitumen
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Mummy
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Asphaltum and bone ash
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Yellow Lake
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Albumen colored with Avignon yellow grains
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Cadmium
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Cadmium sulfide
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Azure or smalt
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Powdered cobalt glass
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It seems that Bouguereau purchased prepared colors in tubes, but on occasion he also ground certain colors himself. It is not known precisely which brand(s) of prepared colors Bouguereau used, but he did write an endorsement for the colors of Lefranc:
"I am pleased to have only good to say about the colors made by Messieurs Lefranc et Cie." 29
It is surprising to see bitumen included among the colors on Bouguereau's palette, in that hardly any of his canvases exhibit the ravages that have afflicted the works of that substance's less prudent users. Bouguereau made the observation:
"Spirit of bitumen can be purchased on the rue de Buci, across from No. 14; it can be applied as is on the canvas and, for painting, mixed with Lefranc bitumen." 30
Moreau-Vauthier has written:
"I heard Bouguereau say that bitumen is safe if used only for superficial retouching and not in depth, for underpainting." 31
"Bouguereau resorted to bitumen for retouching, binding, and blending; he glazed with spirit of bitumen in scumbles and reworked the area in the glaze before the bitumen was dry .... To convince people of the sturdiness of bitumen, Bouguereau used to repeat: "They make sidewalks with it." 32
Bouguereau purchased his materials from many different sources but the most important were:
- Deforge et Carpentier -- 8 blvd. Montmartre
- Hardy-Alan -- 1 rue Childebert, until 1868; later, 56 rue du Cherche-Midi Jordaney- 7 rue Brea
L'Aube (successors to Jordaney) -- 7 rue Brea
When painting, Bouguereau almost always made last minute changes, despite the extensive preliminaries and the fact that his original drawing was unalterably inked upon the ground. If one looks closely at The Education of Bacchus (cat. no. 100), numerous adjustments made in the final stages of execution become apparent; hardly a single figure has been left unmodified from the original plan. The obsession with perfection left the painter little peace:
"Starting a new picture is very pleasant, for you always believe that this time you're going to create a masterpiece; you take pains, and little by little the painting takes shape, the effect comes through. You feel marvelous sensations. When it's done, however, things are different. You want to touch up the arm, the movement of the body doesn't seem graceful.., and you end up doing nothing, for fear of having to redo the whole thing completely. 33
The finely modeled flesh tones in his paintings led many critics to accuse Bouguereau of relying too heavily on the badger blender. But according to Emile Bayard:
"There has been talk of badger-blending, which still amuses the artist, since he has never resorted to this technique ...." 34
Judging from photographs of the painter in his studio, Bouguereau appears to have used the standard round and flat white bristle brushes commonly used for oil painting (fig. 14). Lovis Corinth observed that the artist generally preferred wide brushes. He also used a palette knife for scumbling color into landscape passages and, for painting fine details, a mahl stick.
The glazed passages in the paintings are primarily limited to the darker portions, particularly backgrounds and drapery; conversely, the flesh tones are solid and achieve their translucence by means of careful modeling and precise observations of values and color notes. Richard Lack, a painter of "the other Twentieth Century" -- that is, a painter who continues to paint in the classical tradition -- has written:
"Alongside his mastery of line, Bouguereau utilizes tone relationships with commanding authority. Harmony of dark and light tones is of first importance in a painting. It is even more crucial than color since tone arrangement must underlie every color scheme.
Color or hue cannot exist without value. Painters often say that any color scheme will suffice if the values are harmoniously conceived. Bouguereau's handsome value harmonies are like music of great beauty and subtlety ....
An ... ingenious use of light and shadow is seen in the celebrated Nymphes et Satyre [cat. no. 51]. The figure grasping the left arm of the satyr is backlit with strong reflected light pouring into the shadow side of the head and shoulders, posing one of the most difficult problems for the draftsman. A head of this sort must be modeled with a minimum of tone contrast in order to oppose those passages in the light that are fully modeled. Once again, Bouguereau succeeds with consummate authority." 35
One of the most impressive features of Bouguereau's renderings is the manner whereby the artist expresses a maximum of form with a minimum of means. Passages that appear to be modeled with nearly flat tones acquire volume through manipulation of contours and surrounding values.
The location of Bouguereau's first Paris studio is not known. But in 1866, the painter engaged the architect Jean-Louis Pascal to design his home and atelier at 75 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, finally occupied in September 1868. Undoubtedly Bouguereau himself had an important hand in the planning of the workspace.
The new atelier occupied the northern half of the upper floor of the house and measured 11.5 x 9.5 meters (37 ft. 9 in. x 31 ft. 2 in.) with a ceiling height of 6.9 meters (22 ft., 7.5 in.) (fig. 15). The long northern wall of the studio was windowed from floor to ceiling and hung with heavy drapery in order to control the light. In addition, there was a skylight measuring 4 x 2.5 meters (13 ft 1.5 in. x 8 ft. 2.5 in.) in the exact center of the ceiling. The lower surface of the skylight rested flush with the ceiling and was composed of a wire-reinforced light-diffusing glass. Just under the skylight a roll of opaque fabric was suspended that, by means of wires and pulleys, could be extended along two guide wires in order to regulate the amount of light entering from above. Originally, a sizeable balcony projected from the central window; it was enclosed on all sides by glass so as to form a small greenhouse, which in no way obstructed the light from entering the studio (fig. 16). The balcony, along with the glass enclosure, was dismantled many years after Bouguereau's death, and there presently remains only a narrow balcony and railing.
The interior of Bouguereau's atelier was painted a light, warm, twenty-percent grey which visitors described as "luminous". The journalist Paul Eudel has described a visit to the studio in 1888:
"At first glance, a real disappointment. No knick-knacks, absolutely no attempt at elegance. No suits of armor and no Gothic furniture either. It is in no way a curio shop, like some sumptuously appointed studios that are fitted for everything except painting. Here, on the contrary, there is constant hard work ....
Seated in a corner, a cherubic pupil clutches a piece of cardboard on his lap and tries, with a still shaky hand, to reproduce the academic outlines of the bent head of Niobe, whose plaster mask hangs before him ....
The whole length of the studio is divided by a partition about two meters high, covered with old, mediocre tapestries. Against the partition rests a fine ebony Louis XIV clock .... Perched on the mirrored cornice, two stuffed birds 36 gaze dejectedly at Duret's Chactas, which is made of plaster with a chocolate-hued patina and which, from afar, could be mistaken for Florentine bronze ....
At the foot of the walls, painted in a terra-cotta shade, lean portfolios crammed with drawings and sketches. On the floor, on shelves or hanging from nails, Greek and Roman casts .... I catch sight of a real Chardin, not a painting but a natural Chardin: on a stepladder box lie three small pipes, a ruler, a yardstick, and a sample of varnish, 'guaranteed resin-free,' the bottle of which holds down its prospectus. It is a cosy room, unpretentious and very typical. 37
Bouguereau said of his atelier:
"It is a workroom, that's all." 38
Elsewhere he described his work habits:
"Every morning I get up at seven without fail and have breakfast, then I go up to my studio which I don't leave all day. Around three o'clock, a light meal is brought in; I don't have to leave my work. I rarely have visitors, since I hate to be disturbed. My friends, though, are always welcome. They don't bother me, I can work even when it's noisy or while they're chatting. When I'm painting, I don't pay attention to anything else." 39
The artist usually spent August and September at his home in La Rochelle (15 rue Verdiere), where his schedule was somewhat more relaxed. Marius Vachon has written:
"In a corner of the garden measuring some two hundred square feet, he arranged his outdoor studio; and in the orangery he set up his interior studio. At six in the morning, rain or shine, drizzle or wind, escorted by his three dogs and a servant, he sets out for a two-hour walk through the fields or along the seashore. Once home, he has a cup of tea and settles down to work. At eleven, the family gathers for lunch; at one, he resumes work with his model and continues until six in the evening, with a few short breaks.
Then the painter picks up his rustic cane and his soft-felt hat and leaves, a cigarette between his lips, like any ordinary bourgeois, for a walk around the harbor, to watch the sun set on the sea.
When the town clocks chime seven, he goes back home for dinner; and at ten, it is curfew time. At dawn on Sundays, the master and his wife climb into a carriage to meet a childhood friend, an architect in a neighboring village, for an outing in the countryside or, during hunting season, to take a few pot shots, in his own words, 'at hypothetical quails or the occasional rabbit.' 40
Many of the paintings which Bouguereau began in La Rochelle were finished in Paris; usually all that remained to be done was the completion of the background. He wrote one October:
"I still have landscape elements to paint into my backgrounds and I am hurrying, fearing an early frost will leave only dry, leafless trees." 41
Bouguereau also produced certain paintings that do not belong to any of the categories described above. These works were clearly not made as preparatory studies and yet they often relate to important compositions. From time to time, in addition, he made drawings or tracings of drawings to send to prospective clients interested in a commissioned work or a work in progress. The artist also made pen drawings for reproduction purposes, since halftone reproduction processes were both time consuming and expensive.
Bouguereau frequently painted "reductions" (sometimes Bouguereau refers to these as "reproductions") as well, which were simply smaller versions of important canvases. These works were finished to the same degree as the large versions; they were signed but never dated. Sometimes Bouguereau's students had a hand in the execution of the reductions. In 1877, he wrote his daughter: "Doyen... worked today on the completion of the reduction of Youth and Eros ....42 The reductions originally served as models for the engravers, who relied on them to make quality plates for reproduction purposes. In this way the sales of important paintings were not delayed by the engraving process, and the engraver was not encumbered by the bulk of Bouguereau's large formats. Bouguereau painted most of his reductions early in his career; the first one recorded is done for Charity, in 1859. After that, reductions appear regularly and in great quantity; of sixteen paintings produced in 1867, eight were reductions. There are about a half dozen instances where two reductions of the same painting were made. 43
Such proliferation, of course, could only have been intended for commercial reasons. Neither Baschet nor Vachon recorded these early reductions with any consistency, but they are listed in the artist's account books. 44
But with time the painter seems to have grown weary of the practice, and after 1870 reductions appear on the average of about two per year and are usually limited to works from the annual Salon, destined for the engraver. The reductions either progressed at the same time as the large canvases or they were painted shortly after their completion; in any event, Bouguereau required the large canvas for the execution of the reduction. He explained to a correspondent:
"... You have not understood me. After telling you that I did not have the time, I told you that I was unable to do the reproduction of a painting I no longer had; this should have explained why I found it impossible to fulfill the commission .... I should also add that today I no longer do any reproductions other than for engraving purposes; that is because most of my paintings are too cumbersome for the engraver to work directly from them, so I am resigned to it. But it is always against my wishes." 45
Most of Bouguereau's reductions appear to be faithful copies of the large canvases, but there may be a few exceptions. There is an engraving of L'Orage (The Storm), 1874, executed by Annedouche and published by Goupil, which was presumably done from a reduction (of which no photographic record has been found) and which has a completely different background from that of the large version. The small version of The Storm is specifically mentioned by Baschet as a "reduction pour la gravure" as opposed to simply "reduction."46
A detailed description of Bouguereau's materials and procedures must not obscure the fact that it was above all the master's hand, eye, and temperament, rather than pure technique, that account for the ineffable quality of his work. For those who would invoke the painter's muse, Bouguereau left a final caveat:
"One is born an artist. The artist is a man endowed with a special nature, with a particular feeling for seeing form and color spontaneously, as a whole, in perfect harmony. If one lacks that feeling, one is not an artist and will never become an artist; and it is a waste of time to entertain the possibility. This craft is acquired through study, observation, and practice; it can improve by ceaseless work. But the instinct for art is innate. First, one has to love nature with all one's heart and soul, and be able to study and admire it for hours on end. Everything is in nature. A plant, a leaf, a blade of grass should be the subjects of infinite and fruitful meditations; for the artist, a cloud floating in the sky has form, and the form affords him joy, helps him think." 47
M.S.W.
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