Young Mother Gazing at her Child by Bouguereau in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2022

Title: Young Mother Gazing at Her Child

Artist: William Bouguereau (French, La Rochelle 1825–1905 La Rochelle)

Date: 1871

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 56 x 40 1/2 in. (142.2 x 102.9 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Bequest of Zene Montgomery Pyle, 1993

Accession Number: 1993.402


This doting mother in picturesque dress and her angelic offspring are two of many such figures that Bouguereau painted with an eye to the international market. The scene is highly similar in subject and composition to Breton Brother and Sister, also dated 1871 (hanging nearby), and both works were bought by New York collectors—a testament to the popularity that the artist’s scenes of "princesses dressed up as milkmaids" enjoyed in America.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435752