Compassion ! by William-Adolphe Bouguereau was created in 1897. The painting is in Musee d’Orsay, Paris. The size of the work is 261 x 120 cm and is made as an oil on canvas.
The painting is much more than just another Christ on the cross. In fact, Bouguereau called it Compassion! to underline the tragic dimension of this episode which is not based directly on any passage in the Gospels. The dramatic nature of the work breathes new life into a secular subject without falling into the exaggerated suffering seen in paintings by artists such as Nikolaï Gay. (Read more in Musee d’Orsay)
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
