Young Mother Gazing at Her Child

In 1871 France was counting its losses. The war with Prussia had ended in January with Paris starved into surrender, and by the end of May the Commune and the army had fought through the city street by street. What Bouguereau sent to market that year were pictures like this one: a young mother in careful country dress, her child asleep across her lap, and behind them nothing but warm shadow. They sold, and mostly to Americans. This canvas and another he dated 1871, a pair of Breton children, both ended up with New York collectors. The Metropolitan holds the two of them today, the Breton children since an 1887 bequest and this one since 1993.