William Bogugueau The Elder Sister

William Bouguereau’s The Elder Sister is a painting of two siblings. The elder sister is the young girl holding her baby brother while sitting on a large, brown rock. The way the girl gazes at the audience shows that she is challenging and brave. As if she dares someone to mess with her younger sibling. The young girl’s facial expression is hard to tell. Similar to the smile of Mono Lisa, it’s not certain if the young girl is smiling or making a straight face. The bare foot hanging down, painted beautifully, shows the simplicity of the girl. The Elder Sister portrays a very heartwarming scene. Drawing his children beautifully showing no imperfections, Bouguereau states how perfect his children are. The painting is outdoors, shows a lot of nature
and has a rural background. The weather seems foggy and the rays of light coming from behind the girl show that it is early morning and that the sun is just coming up. The painting is beautifully painted with soft strokes. All together, The Elder Sister gives a very peaceful loving vibe. It sets a moment of silence in its audience.
The focal point of this painting is the elder sister’s arms wrapped around her younger sibling.
This is shown by the white clouds surrounding that area making it emphasized. Emphasis is placed on the foot as well because everything surrounding the foot is dark and the foot its self is light, which makes it stand out. The bland blend of colors sets a soft, dull scene making the audience calmed. Bouguereau uses both light and dark colors, but proportions them in places which balance out the entire painting. The elder sister is wearing darker colors which make her seem more dominant than her younger sibling. This also symbolizes how the young girl protects her baby brother. Motion is shown by the young girl’s leg hanging down as she sits. The leg seems as if it is swinging back and forth. Mass is shown in the rock on which the young girl is sitting on. The texture comes from soft stokes made with paint brushes. Value is shown as the painting goes from light to dark from the top half to the bottom half. The bottom half of the painting is darker and shows more value. There is not a set light source to define the value, but light does seem to be coming from behind the children. The elder sibling in proportion to the younger sibling takes up more space on the composition. The painting in all has a variety of color schemes, values, textures and
more.
William Bouguereau is known for painting children and emphasizing the bodies of females.
He painted realism, meaning he avoided unrealistic things. Also Bouguereau did not use vibrant colors. Bouguereau’s color palette is dull and dim colors. Even his reds are more of a brownish red. The composition in Bouguereau’s paintings is always relative to one another. He paints the faces very clear and makes sure the hands are always visible. Bouguereau proportions the hands in front of the bodies usually. He was known for painting beautiful faces, hands and feet. His subject matter is female nudity, nymphs, young children and angels. He painted so many nudes it’s as if he were obsessed with the female body. Bouguereau used charcoal paint and pencil. Many of his paintings are oil on canvas. Bouguereau showed contrast by using a shading technique called Chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro is the technique of using light and shade in pictorial work of
art. Although William Bouguereau is a realism painter, his work combines elements of neo-classicism, impressionism, romanticism and realism. He painted in many different period styles. He created photo realistic art. In his time he was much honored and popular, but due to preference change, he became less popular later on. Bouguereau painted photo like classical scenes from history, fantasy and literature. He is labeled as one of the leading artists of the academic tradition in the nineteenth century. Bouguereau is said to have captured the soul of youth. Bouguereau showed romanticism in his paintings by painting seductive looking young woman, also by showing love and affection between two or more individuals. The characteristics of realism are that it is situated with truth and depicted life and society as they were. It focuses mainly on present issues and truths from now rather than the past or fantasy. Realism puts its focus on the characters in the paining rather than the actual plot. Events that take place in the painting are predictable because they are not over dramatic. Also the diction is natural, for example, a painting of two people having a conversation. Realism and romanticism are the opposite of one another. Yet, Bougueraeu was able to paint in both types of period styles. Bougueraeu’s work shows realism because his paintings are objectively real. In conclusion, The Elder Sister by William Bougueraeu is a beautiful painting portraying care an elder sibling has for her younger sibling. The calm colors of the painting set a peaceful environment which gives the composition a soft and dull look. The Elder Sister has a variety of colors and values. Bougueraeu is an artist that painted in many different period styles. He is mainly known for painting realism. Bougueraeu paints hands, feet and faces very well. His subject matter is painting children, nymphs and female figures. Much of his work is done on female nudity.