The Oreads Bouguereau
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
The Oreads Bouguereau
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Oreads, William Bouguereau, 1902.
The Oreads are the nymphs of mountains and grottoes (the most well known is Echo), who were said to come out in joyful, lively groups to hunt deer, chase wild boar and bring down birds of prey with their arrows. At Diana’s signal, they would come running to join her, forming a dazzling retinue behind her.
The 1902 catalogue for the Salon de Paris said: "The shadows are dissipating; dawn appears, radiant, and colors the mountain tops pink. Then a long procession soars up into the sky: it is the joyful band of nymphs who, during the night, frolicked in the shadow of the forests and by the still waters of the river; they take to the air, watched by the astonished fauns, to return to their own realm and the ethereal regions inhabited by the gods".
With this painting, Bouguereau shows his firm attachment to his ideal of academic painting. The mythological subject is a pretext to demonstrate his outstanding drawing skills, capable of capturing all the attitudes and expressions of the human body. The mythological subject also enables him to introduce an erotic element without lapsing into bawdiness.
With this flight of female figures, Bouguereau boldly produced a painting that was highly imaginative and suffused with poetry, perceptible in the twilight landscape of the background, worthy of Corot, and tinged with Symbolist tones.
This painting can be admired at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, France.
As for Paris... what can one say about the City of Light that has not already been said...?
More amazing paintings one copy-paste away at my gallery at https://weston-westmoreland.pixels.com/collections/paintings
More views of Paris one copy-paste away in my Gallery at http://westonwestmoreland.com/collections/paris
Weston Westmoreland.
Uploaded
November 2nd, 2020
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