Gleaners

William Adolphe Bouguereau

William Adolphe Bouguereau was born in southwestern France in 1825. He studied art in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Bouguereau was an established painter who won distinguished awards when he was alive. Bouguereau was an academic and many students were taught under his instruction. The common subjects of Bouguereau’s art were portraits, religious art, classical subjects, all of which were focused on the female human body. Bouguereau painted his women to look nearly perfect so that his works would sell easily. Bouguereau lived in a time where the art world was shifting. Artists like Cézanne, Renoir, and Monet were pushing forward the idea of impressionism, while Bouguereau stayed traditional and continued to paint neoclassicist and realist paintings. This caused artwork to be dismissed by other artists of his time. As the impressionist period became more predominant, Bouguereau’s art lost its popularity upon his death; his art has become widely respected and popular today.

Gleaners and Ruth 2

In William Adolphe Bouguereau’s Gleaners, there is extreme ambiguity as to what is occurring. It is unclear whether or not Ruth has yet encountered Boaz. It is possible that Ruth is looking at Boaz or looking at another woman working in the field. It is not evident what has struck her attention. It is most likely that this painting displays Ruth after the mealtime she shares with Boaz and his men. This is depicted by the golden hour clouds in the painting and the exhaustion in Ruth’s face. Ruth’s emotions are enigmatic as well. Her eyes are illustrated to show mourning for her late husband and worry about her future. In contrast, her mouth has a slight grin as though she is thinking of the potential relationship with Boaz and the security he could provide to her and Naomi. If this painting were to depict Ruth after the mealtime with Boaz, it is possible that she is reflecting deeply on the meal and what she will be doing to further develop their relationship. There is uncertainty in the way Ruth holds the wheat, which reflects the precariousness of her situation. In the period in which Ruth was written, widows had no status. It appears as though the wheat, which represents Ruth’s security, could either slip through her fingers or she could firmly grasp the sheaf. While there is general vagueness in this painting, Bouguereau also adds details which are unambiguous. On Ruth’s corset, there is an embroidered letter N, which is a physical display of her loyalty to Naomi. Behind Ruth, in the horizon, it is dark and she is in the process of turning around. Ruth is leaving behind her dark past and is looking forward to her bright future with Boaz. While there is an aura of mystery that surrounds Ruth’s emotion and action, there is also a level of decisive and clear evidence as to what is to come in the future.

“Gleaners.” Wiki art. Accessed December 11, 2016. https://www.wikiart.org/en/william-adolphe-bouguereau/gleaners-1894

 David Rogers. “William Adolphe Bouguereau.” Oxford Art Online, accessed December 11, 2016. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e352?q=william+Adolphe+bouguereau&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit

Carrie Sayre is a freshman at St. Olaf College. She is an economics and American studies double major at St. Olaf college with concentrations in media studies and management studies. Carrie is from Eden Prairie, Minnesota.