Étude de la tête

This beautiful bust-length study of a model’s face cannot be directly connected with any finished composition by Bouguereau, but the model herself, with her narrow, rounded chin and her Roman nose is recognizable as the central figure in the artist’s L’Assaut of 1898. This work’s monochromatic background is typical of the studies that Bouguereau painted in preparation for his large paintings, keeping these in his studio so he could repeatedly return to certain studies as he considered the final composition, reworking their surfaces as needed. In January 1921, the artist Robert Marc, one of Bouguereau's students, organized an exhibition devoted solely to Bouguereau at the Gallery Dewambez in Paris. Leandre Vaillat gave an account of the exhibition in L'Illustration, describing Marc's explanation of Bouguereau's working methods: 'Many head studies exist in order to illustrate the manner in which he worked: certain ones represent Italian models, others represent French models. Bouguereau executed these works rapidly, in a four-hour session, and he had the habit of placing them next to him, while he continued to develop the figures to which they once belonged, the painting which they would form a part of, and for which previously, he had composed a well-balanced sketch.'
What is most fascinating about the present work is its clear illustration of the stages of the Academic painting technique with which Bouguereau is still so associated. Bouguereau’s finished canvases are renowned for their technical virtuosity, with the artist building up thin glazes of paint to create a highly-finished surface with almost no visible brushwork. In his studies however, we see a much clearer illustration of his artistic process. Pencil underdrawing on the prepared canvas is followed by blocking in more of the contours of the figure with oil paint. On top of that, the first few thinly applied layers of glazes, visible in the background, hair, and proper right shoulder of the figure, illustrate the ébauche stage of the artist’s process. As the artist continues to apply thin layers of glazing over one another in the more highly-worked face and neck, the result is the smooth, marble-like finish found in Bouguereau’s completed work.
This work is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Frederick C. Ross, President, Bouguereau Committee and co-author of the William Bouguereau Catalogue raisonné.