The Nut Gatherers (1882) Poster

William-Adolphe Bouguereau born in La Rochelle, France on November 30, 1825. His family were wine and olive oil merchants. With the help of his uncle Eugène, a Roman Catholic priest,he was able to attend high school (rare in those days). Bouguereau demonstated an artistic gift early in his life. Bouguereau a traditionalist whose realistic genre paintings and mythological themes were modern interpretations of classical subjects—both pagan and Christian—with a heavy concentration on the female human body. The idealized world of his paintings, and his almost photo-realistic style, brought to life goddesses, nymphs, bathers, shepherdesses, and madonnas in a way that appealed to wealthy art patrons of the era.