William Bouguereau

Goupil et Cie., Paris, no. 8946 (acquired directly from the artist on May 6, 1874)
Theo van Gogh, Amsterdam (acquired from the above  in May 1874)
Goupil et Cie., Paris, no. 10251 (reacquired from the above in May 1875)
S. A, the  Prince of Saxe-Cobourg (acquired from the above in 1875)
Goupil Opéra, Paris, no. 11821 (acquired from the above on February 27, 1877)
Private Collection, London (acquired from the above in May 1877)
Vanderbilt Collection, United States
Ronald C. Jeançon
Herbert Chase of Herbert Chase Gallery
Acquired from the above by the present owners in 1967

Charles Vendryès, Dictionnaire illustré des Beaux-Arts,  Paris, 1885, p.51
Marius Vachon, W. Bouguereau, Paris, 1900, p. 151  .
Mark Steven Walker, William Bouguereau: A Summary Catalogue of the Paintings, 1991, p. 69

William Bouguereau rarely depicted male subjects, except where they appeared as figures in a larger work or, of course, in his religious themes.  This may have been the result of the influence of his overly strict father, with whom he had a difficult relationship throughout his youth.   To the young man his father loomed large as a severe, moralistic, and tyrannical figure. 

It is all the more curious then, that  between 1869 and 1874 Bouguereau would produce a series of four paintings in the style of a portrait with a young boy as subject; paintings one can consider as a whole, intimately connected, one to the other, like the links of a single chain.  These are:

Pifferaro (1870)
L’Italien à la mandoline (1870)
Pifferaro (1874) the present lot
Enfant italien tenant une croûte de pain (1874)

It is interesting to note that this atypical succession of works by the artist depicts the Mediterranean grace and charm of the same young boy, most likely recruited from the heart of the substantial Italian community which had formed in Paris at the time. 

The beauty and delicateness of the boy’s features must have appealed to Bouguereau’s aesthetic sense perhaps evoking at the same time pleasant memories of people encountered during his trips to Rome in the late 1840s.  In this picture the model holds a “piffaro,” an Italian folk instrument related to the modern oboe, which was used to provide a lively counterpoint to the drone of the bagpipe-like “zampogna.”  These traditional instruments were always among those used by the musical troupes which would descend from the hills around Rome to celebrate Christmas.  Attired in the regional costume of a young Roman shepherd, our musician appears pensive, lost in his own thoughts, as if searching his memory for an elusive melody.

Unfortunately, nothing is known for certain about this model.  It seems probable, however, that the completion of this series of paintings, started in 1869 would have been delayed by the dramatic events of 1870-71.  And it is very likely not until 1873 that Bouguereau decided to resume work on this painting as well as the Enfant italien tenant une croûte de pain, this last work certainly being more quickly completed under pressure, considering its smaller size.