Bible Paintings by William Adolphe Bouguereau (1825 - 1905) 5 Stars

Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)

Today, I wanted to review a lot of paintings by William Adolphe Bouguereau. Bouguereau was a classical painter. He painted in the style of realism classical subjects. This guy made his career during the realism ,impressionism and post impressionism movements. In a way, he was being advant garde. Part of being, ahead of your time involved innovation. Bouguereau was very innovative in his classical paintings. He made believable the impossible. Aside from classical subjects, he did genre paintings with Biblical overtones. In doing so, he update Bible themes for the modern audience. 

Yet, what made him really famous was his depictions of female bodies. They came out truly pretty. They were the perfect, impossible blend of realism and idealism.  He was pretty popular in France and in the United States. Many American millionaires bought his work. The pity is that the other popular movements made his art fall into obscurity. He was rediscovered in the 1980s. It is said that he made a total of 822 paintings. Most scholars do not know where they ended up. I think that is everything worth mentioning about Bouguereau.

I will now review Bouguereau's Biblical paintings. The first painting shows the Virgin Mary sitting on her throne. The decorations on the walls and on the throne are art nouveau style. Her Halo too has fancy decorations. The Virgin herself is painted pretty realistic. Before her, we see Jesus kissing John the Baptist. They were very close since children. Both do look cute with their curly hair.

In this painting, we see Jesus getting whipped. In the foreground, we see a guy making more whips for the Romans. Jesus's expression looks very pained. Based on his feet, he has lost all strength to lift himself. The indoor scenery is pretty realistic. By Bouguereau's time, the search for the historical Jesus was well on its way.

As such, most academics had a pretty good idea of how things looked during Jesus's time. What I find odd, is the old man who is carrying his son on his back. He wants his kid to see better Jesus getting whipped. Those Romans were pretty evil. Think about it, all who see this punishment understand the price of treason. After all, being a messiah during those days equated crucifixion. I think that is everything worth mentioning about this painting.

In this painting, we see Jesus crucified. He is showing compassion to another man who ,like himself, must bear his own cross. The wounds on Jesus Christ are still bleeding. The stormy background is pretty depressing. It does much to paint a grim mood.

In this painting, the Virgin Mary is carrying the body of her dead son. The son she loved and cared for lies dead in her arms. Only a mother who has lost her son, may understand her pain. All around her, angels too are mourning for the dead Christ. What is interesting are their halos. They have some pretty interesting patterns. The platter in the foreground we see the crown of thorns and nails.

In this painting, we see the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus. Both are sleeping in the forest. On the meantime, the angels are playing music for them. The light falling on them works pretty well. Over the group, a type of divine light is bathing them. The scenery is very calm and peaceful.

In this painting, the holy women are looking at the angel. They expected to find Jesus in his grave. Instead, they found a messenger telling them that Jesus had been Resurrected. The maidens and the scenery were pretty realistic.

In this painting, we see "The Madonna of the Roses". The theme is pretty simple. It shows the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus among the roses. It is a pretty common depiction of the Virgin Mary.

In this painting, we see Jesus, his mother and the lamb of God. It is adorable how he is feeding the lamb some flowers. In this depiction, he appears as the good shepherd.

In this painting, we see Baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary surrounded by angels. Here, the Virgin appears with a crown of stars, just like in the Apocalypse. Together, they are worshiping the Virgin.

Above, we see the "Virgin and Child". The entire scenery is decorated with patterns. Many are arabesque, while others are Gothic. Both figures do look extremely pretty.

In this painting, the Virgin Mary is comforting a mother whose kid died. The boy was sketched from an actual dead body. Therefore, he is pretty realistic. The decoration behind the Virgin is taken from Gothic cathedrals. I think that is everything worth mentioning.

This painting shows the Virgin with lilies. Lilies are her flower. The decorative background are a series of stylized lilies of different colors. They represent the rest of women kind. The Virgin is the purest of all of god's daughters.

In this last painting, we see John the Baptist with the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. This painting has the lily background. The carpet too is very elaborate. 

This is the second review of Bouguereau. This review focuses on some random paintings. The first painting shows Dante and Virgil. Both are looking at two very angry sinners. The main image focuses on the two angry weirdos. Passing by the onlookers, we see a very creepy smiling demon. Overall, this is a pretty messed up vision of hell.

This painting is about innocence. Here, we see an innocent child sleeping. The lamb of god also stands for innocence. The purity of the mother and her robes also stand for innocence. The forest also stands for innocence.

This odd painting is about the motherland. She is the mother of all the French children. She provides food and safe havens for all her children. The arrangement of this painting is similar to Bouguereau's Charity paintings. For a background, we see a French landscape. The scenery is very stormy. This shows that the motherland weathers every storms.   

For those that do not know, in all saints days Catholics visit the graves of their loved ones. Here we see two widows visiting a graveyard. One has broke down into tears. The stronger maiden is trying to support her. 

In this painting, we see an updated version of the Virgin Mary and Jesus with John the Baptist. This one focuses on the fraternal love between the Jesus and his cousin. Both do look cute together. 

In this last painting, we see the first Charity painting. This one shows a maiden taking care of two children. It is implied that neither of those kids belong to her. However, she is taking care of them out of charity.