Rest

1877

Elizabeth Gardner and the oath to his mother

Soon after Nelly’s death his mother makes Bouguereau swear that he will not remarry in her lifetime. He plans to marry his pupil Elizabeth Jane Gardner (they meet in December 1877), but his mother and eldest daughter oppose the marriage. Some accounts say the couple marry secretly in May 1879 and announce the marriage only in 1896; others, that they marry in Paris in June 1896 after a nineteen-year engagement.

3 April 1877

The death of his wife Nelly; in June, of the baby Maurice

In October 1876 Nelly has a fifth child, Maurice, but her health declines and the doctors suspect tuberculosis (other accounts say she dies of complications after childbirth); on 3 April 1877 Bouguereau’s wife dies, aged forty. Two months later, in June, the baby Maurice dies too.

May 1878

The Paris Universal Exhibition: twelve paintings

For the opening of the Paris Universal Exhibition in May 1878, showcasing French work, Bouguereau finds and borrows twelve of his paintings from their owners, including his new work “Nymphaeum”.

1879

“The Birth of Venus”: rivalry with Cabanel

In 1879 Bouguereau starts on the large canvas “The Birth of Venus” — possibly out of rivalry with Cabanel, whose picture had long been regarded as the standard of academic painting. Critics receive the work coolly: Huysmans writes that Bouguereau “invented aerated painting”; yet it begins a consistent series of nudes — about ten percent of all the artist’s paintings.

11 luglio 1881 · Premio

Commander of the Legion of Honour