When I first saw a picture of this painting, I thought "Wow! A Bouguereau that I've never seen before!" Every now and then, lost works of the Greatest Artist in the History of the UniverseTM do turn up, but it is not common.To my greater surprise, this canvas is not the work of Bouguereau, but a devoted student and then imitator of the great master named Guillaume Seignac (1870-1924). Seignac, a Parisian, exhibited frequently at the Salon in the 1890s and early years of the 20th Century. The content, flesh tones, draping, anatomy, and brushwork all proclaim Bouguereau. Seignac even signs his name in the same font as the master. The only difference that I can see is that the woman depicted gazes at the viewer, which would be very unusual for Bouguereau. Perhaps Seignac lacks total originality, but he could not have chosen a better artist to imitate, nor done it so very well.
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