Little girl with bouquet of flowers 1896

Léon Bazile Perrault painted this oil on canvas titled "Little girl with bouquet of flowers," though its exact date is unknown, we can place it in nineteenth-century France. Perrault specialized in sentimental genre scenes depicting childhood innocence and beauty. Images of rosy-cheeked children holding flowers were very popular at the time, reflecting a broader interest in naturalism and a romanticized view of rural life. The art market and its institutions play an important role here. Perrault's paintings catered to the tastes of the bourgeoisie. To truly understand a work like this, we delve into the social history of the period: the rise of the middle class, the changing role of children, and the institutional structures of the art world. By consulting exhibition records, art market data, and period reviews, we can gain a deeper understanding of how an artist like Perrault both reflected and shaped the values of his time.