A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros by William-Adolphe Bouguereau was created in 1880. The painting is in J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. The size of the work is 81,6 x 57,8 cm and is made as an oil on canvas.
A young nude woman sits with her arms outstretched, pushing away a winged boy. He is Cupid, the god of love, holding up an arrow to pierce her. The title suggests that the young woman is trying to defend herself, yet she smiles and struggles unconvincingly against the mischievous little god. Visitors to the Paris exhibitions of the 1870s and 1880s loved William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s paintings. The Getty Museum’s painting repeats a larger composition that Bouguereau made for the Paris Salon in 1880; a viewer probably saw the larger version there and requested a smaller one for private viewing. (Read more in J. Paul Getty Museum)
About the Artist: French academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau was born in La Rochelle. At the age of twelve, Bouguereau went to Mortagne-sur-Gironde to stay with his uncle Eugène, a priest, and developed a love of nature, religion and literature. In 1839, he was sent to study for the priesthood at a Catholic college in Pons. Here he was taught to draw and paint by Louis Sage, who had studied under Ingres. Bouguereau reluctantly left his studies to return to his family, now residing in Bordeaux. Bouguereau became a student at the École des Beaux-Arts… Read more
You can order this work as an art print on canvas from canvastar.com
