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Meditation
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825–1905)

Title

Meditation

Artist

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825–1905)

Date

1885

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

52 × 34 in. (132.1 × 86.4 cm)

Classification

Painting

Credit Line

From the Collection of Guy C. Barton, gift of his grandson, Rexford Wadleigh Barton

Object Number

1974.54

On View

Not on view

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by Goupil & Cie, Paris, November 17, 1885, stock book no. 17611;
Purchased from Goupil & Cie by Blackeslee & Co., New York, September 8, 1886.
With Lanthier’s Old Curiosity Shop, New York by February 10, 1906, as Brittany Girl;
Purchased from Lanthier’s Old Curiosity Shop by Guy C. Barton (1839–1909), Omaha, February 10, 1906–1909;
By descent to his grandson, Rexford Wadleigh Barton (1898–1968), Berkeley, California, 1909–1968;
Inherited by his wife, Marybelle Barton, Berkeley, California, 1968–November 1, 1974;
Her gift to Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1974.

Exhibition History

Angels and Urchins: Images of Children at the Joslyn, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, November 15, 1980–January 4, 1981, no. 49.

Published References

Frenquet, Charles, Comte de Franqueville, Le premier siècle de l’Institut de France (Paris: Rothschild, 1895), 370.

Marius Vachon, William Bouguereau (Paris: Lahure, 1900), 156.

Hollister Sturges, Angels and Urchins: Images of Children at the Joslyn, exh. cat. (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1980), 57–58, (repro.).

Holliday T. Day and Hollister Sturges, eds., Joslyn Art Museum: Paintings & Sculpture from the European & American Collections (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1987), 87–90, (repro.).

Mark Steven Walker, “Summary Catalogue of the Paintings,” in William-Adolphe Bougureau: L’Art Pompier (New York: Borghi & Co., 1991), 72.

Damien Bartoli and Frederick Ross, William Bouguereau: His Life and Works, vol. 1 (New York: New York Antique Collectors’ Club, 2014), 232, no. 1885/05, (repro.).

Taylor J. Acosta, European Paintings and Sculpture from Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 2020), 170–71, (repro.).