Adolphe William BOUGUEREAU 1825-1905.

Women of Algiers in their apartment after Delacroix.

About 1846-1850.

Signed by the artist on the back of the work

Oil on canvas

33 x 41 cm

The Imperial Art Gallery is pleased to announce the acquisition by the National Eugène-Delacroix Museum of a copy painted by Adolphe William Bouguereau (1825-1905) of the famous painting Women of Algiers in their apartment by Eugène Delacroix (1834 , Louvre Museum). This early work by Bouguereau, dated around 1846-1850 before his departure for Rome, bears witness to the learning methods of the time, which consisted in particular of copying his predecessors. It is interesting to note that Bouguereau was inspired by Delacroix, even though art historians subsequently often underlined the dissimilarities between these two artists, Bouguereau being an academic painter par excellence. As a painter of women, it seems quite natural that William Bouguereau wanted to practice representing this scene of female intimacy, the keystone of one of the most fashionable artistic movements of his time.

A major work in the history of French art, Women of Algiers in their apartment will be a source of inspiration for a whole generation after the death of Delacroix. Bouguereau's painting, after a favorable opinion from the Louvre Museum's acquisition commission, has been placed on the walls of the Delacroix Museum alongside a copy by Henri Fantin-Latour, painted in 1876, which is also inspired by this work. iconic.

Related works in public and private collections

Eugène Delacroix, Women of Algiers in their apartment. 1834. Oil on canvas, 180 x 229 cm, Louvre MuseumHenri Fantin-Latour, Women of Algiers in their apartment after Delacroix.1876. Oil on canvas, 73.9 x 93.8 cm, Eugène Delacroix MuseumGeorges Jouve, Algerian Scene, Women of Algiers (after Eugène Delacroix). Before 1897. Oil on canvas, 177 x 228 cm, Saint-Brieuc, Museum of Art and HistoryMaurice Leclercq, Women of Algiers (after Eugène Delacroix). 1895. Oil on canvas, 197 x 242 cm, Glasses MuseumPablo Picasso, Women of Algiers (version O).1955. Oil on canvas, Private collection