The Elder Sister, reduction (La soeur aînée, réduction) Print by William Bouguereau

  PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 3 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY. ITEM IS MADE ON-DEMAND.   Archival print.Printed on acid-free paper.Available in 2 sizes. Option to purchase framed or unframed.  William Bouguereau, French, 1825-1905. The Elder Sister, reduction (La soeur aînée, réduction), 1864.An academic painter who had achieved great success in the Paris Salon with mythological, historical, and religious subjects, Bouguereau later turned to genre scenes such as this image of a young woman caring for her younger brother. Although the figures are defined as siblings in the title, Bouguereau evokes the Madonna and Child with a tender pose—much like that seen in the altarpieces on the opposite wall—and the Catholic rosary beads in the child’s hand. Moreover, scholars have linked Bouguereau’s composition and the dark, dreamy look of the girl to the Sistine Madonna by Raphael. Bouguereau’s works appealed to a middle-class clientele—both French and American—that cherished Christian and domestic values. This “r