A Portrait of Geneviève Bouguereau

In 1850 Bouguereau was 25 and still near the start of his career. That same year he won the Prix de Rome, the state prize that paid for a long stay in Italy and effectively launched him. Around November and December he painted this portrait, and the sitter was family: Céline Geneviève, the daughter of his uncle Adolphe Bouguereau, so his cousin, shown here at 19. It is a private picture rather than a Salon piece, probably made as a gift within the family. The smooth, almost polished finish that would later make his mythological nudes famous is already here, applied to a young woman he actually knew. It stayed in private hands rather than going on public display.