Italien à la mandoline 1870

William Bouguereau completed this oil painting around 1870. Bouguereau was a master of the academic style, which prized flawless realism above all else. To achieve this, he and his peers followed a set procedure rooted in close observation of life. You began with a charcoal under drawing and then slowly built up thin layers of oil paint, carefully blending each to create smooth transitions of tone. In this painting, we see a young Italian boy with a mandolin. He is sitting, poised as though about to play, but clearly not a member of the leisure classes. Bouguereau likely hired a model from the working class, which he painted with tremendous care and attention. The boy's clothing may be somewhat idealized, but the signs of his laboring life – his bare feet – are not erased. Bouguereau made a career of elevating everyday life to the realm of high art. His paintings remind us that the value of art comes not only from its subject matter, but also from the skill and effort of the maker.