Italian Woman at the Fountain
Framed: 51 × 43 1/8 inches (129.54 × 109.55 cm)
- 126
Possibly Seventeenth Annual Exhibition in London of Pictures: The Contributions of French and Flemish Schools at the Gallery , French Gallery, London, 1870, no. 96, as A Day-dream at the Well.
Winslow Homer and the Critics: Forging a National Art in the 1870s , The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 18–May 6, 2001; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 10–September 9, 2001; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, October 6, 2001–January 6, 2002 (Kansas City only), hors cat.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s technique appears almost photorealistic—a result of close study of nature and the use of photographs that allowed him to capture the most minute details of his compositions. His typical works were classical, religious, or everyday life scenes characterized by their realism, restrained palette, and classically posed figures inspired by Italian Renaissance models.
A leading
Academic painter of his time, Bouguereau also achieved great commercial
success. He was wildly popular with critics and the public in France, as well
as with American and British collectors in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Purchased from the artist by Goupil et Cie, Paris, stock book no. 4, stock no. 4695, as Italienne à la fontaine, December 31, 1869–June 12, 1870;
Purchased from Goupil et Cie by Henry Wallis (1805–1890), London, June 12, 1870 [1];
Mr. Mack Barnabus “M. B.” (1872–1950) and Mrs. Cora “May” (née Milhon, 1874–1951) Nelson , Kansas City, MO, by 1932–June 10, 1950 [2];
Inherited by his wife, Mrs. Cora “May” (née Milhon, 1874–1951) Nelson, Kansas City, MO, June 29, 1950–May 23, 1951 [3];
Estate of M. B. and May Nelson, 1951–1956 [4];
Bequeathed by M. B. and May Nelson to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 14, 1956 [4];
NOTES:
[1] Henry Wallis was the owner of the French Gallery in London. Per Pamela Fletcher, at that time, it was normal for dealers to own the works they exhibited. See correspondence from Fletcher to Meghan Gray, NAMA, July 27, 2010, NAMA curatorial files. The gallery continued after Wallis’s death under the direction of his descendants until 1929.
[2] See autochrome photograph of the painting hanging in the Nelsons’ interior patio, dated August 23, 1932, Frank Lauder Autochrome collection (P22), Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library. Mr. Nelson visited England, Ireland, and Scotland in 1889, and, in 1911, Southampton, England, with his wife. These were opportunities where they may have purchased the painting.
[3] M. B. Nelson died on June 10, 1950. Mr. Nelson’s will was filed in the Jackson County Probate court on June 29, 1950. The will indicates that the home on 5500 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO, was held jointly by his widow, Mrs. May Nelson. The entire estate of was left to Mrs. Nelson, who was named jointly with the Commerce Trust company as executor of the estate. The will was dated March 9, 1950. See “M. B. Nelson Will Filled,” Kansas City Star 70, no. 285 (June 29, 1950): 3.
[5] On October 17, 1974, the Nelson’s nephew, William M. Frick (1914–2000), Kansas City, MO, returned the painting to the museum. The museum offered the painting for sale in 1985 at Nineteenth Century European Paintings, Drawings, and Watercolors, Christie’s, New York, October 30, 1985, lot 88, but it failed to sell. The painting was accessioned into the permanent collection on June 20, 1988. See NAMA curatorial files.
Possibly Seventeenth Annual Exhibition in London of Pictures: The Contributions of French and Flemish Schools at the Gallery , exh. cat. (London: French Gallery, 1870).
Possibly “The French Gallery: Seventeenth Exhibition,” Art-Journal 32 (London) (May 1, 1870): 149, as A Day-dream at the Well.
Ch. Vendryès, Catalogue illustré des œuvres de W. Bouguereau, ed. L. Baschet (Paris: Librairie d’Art, 1885), 45, as l’Italienne à la Fontaine.
Comte de Franqueville [Amable Charles Franquet],Le premier siècle de l’Institut de France,25 oct. 1795–25 oct. 1895 (Paris: J. Rothschild, 1895), 1:370, as l’Italienne à la fontaine.
Marius Vachon, W. Bouguereau (Paris: A. Lahure, 1900), 149, as Italienne A [sic] La Fontaine.
Erma Young, “Family Treasures as Key to Décor,” Kansas City Star 80, no. 192 (March 27, 1960): 6H, (repro.).
Nineteenth-Century European Paintings, Drawings, and Watercolors (New York: Christie’s, 1985), unpaginated, (repro.), as Italienne À La Fontaine.
“New at the Nelson,” Calendar of Events (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (January 1989): 2, (repro.), as Standing Woman (L’Italienne à la fontaine).
Robert Rosenblum et al., William-Adolphe Bouguereau: L’Art Pompier , exh. cat. (New York: Borghi and Co, 1991), 68, as Italienne à la fontaine.
Roger B. Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 1st ed. (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1993), 205, (repro.), as Standing Woman (also called Italian Woman at a Fountain).
“Educational Insights,” Calendar of Events (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (September 2001): 4, (repro.), as Standing Woman.
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 116, (repro.), as Italian Woman at the Fountain.
Damien Bartoli and Fred Ross, “Biography of William Bouguereau,” Art Renewal Center (January 1, 2002): https://www.artrenewal.org/Article/Title/biography-of-william-bouguereau#12 , as L’Italienne à la fontaine.
Damien Bartoli and Fred Ross, William Bouguereau:His Life and Works; Catalogue Raisonné of his Painted Works (Port Reading, NJ: Antique Collector’s Club in cooperation with the Art Renewal Center, 2010), no. 1869/18, pp. 1: 188, 2:122, (repro.), as L’Italienne á la fontaine [The Italian girl at the fountain].
Didier Jung, William Bouguereau: le peintre roi de la Belle Époque (Saintes: Le Croît Vif, 2014), 346, as Italiennes [sic] á la fontaine.
Catherine Futter et al., Bloch Galleries: Highlights from the Collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2016), 53, (repro.), as Italian Woman at the Fountain.
Tanya Paul and Stanton Thomas, Bouguereau and America, exh. cat. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019), 42, The Italian Woman at the Fountain.
Fausto Boga, “La Transformazione della Realtà in Bellezza,” Hestetika Magazine 37 (February 2021): 33, (repro.), as Italian Woman at the Fountain.
Stanton Thomas, “William Adolphe Bouguereau, Italian Woman at the Fountain, 1869,” catalogue entry in French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2023), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.5.502.5407.
