Previous: Less A Mirror, More A Window
Next: Painting Because Life Is Fragile
Every Day Without Fail
Post #1699 • May 27, 2014, 10:52 AM
![[Image: William Bouguereau, La Perle, 1894]](http://www.artblog.net/static/posts/2014/05/bouguereau/bouguereau.jpg)
William Bouguereau, La Perle, 1894
Bouguereau's work routine.
Bouguereau painted every day without fail, conversing [simultaneously] with the friends or of family members who were present. Rising at dawn he would breakfast and then go up to his studio after donning some old clothes reserved for the purpose – a flannel shirt and an old suit, usually a skull cap or aged felt hat, and slippers on his feet. He would deal with serious business as he busied himself at the easel. At noon the painter would eat a frugal meal sent up to him from the pantry on a dumb waiter. Usually this consisted of fried eggs, cheese, and bread, which he would gulp down hastily, wishing to lose as little time as possible. Then he would take up his brush and only lay it down reluctantly when the daylight became insufficient. But that did not mean that his labors were ended. After the evening meal, by lamplight, he would work on new compositions, imaging different arrangements, and trying out new configurations. He drew his his famous little sketches in pen and ink or in pencil, laying out on paper a whole fairy world that was conceived with the contentment of a very full day...
Via Underpaintings, hat tip John Sanchez.