The Hazelnuts (The Nut Gatherers)

1882

William-Adolphe Bouguereau French, 1825-1905

On View

Era of Revolution, Level 3, South Wing

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Provenance

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

In this idealized vision of country life, two young girls dominate a landscape on the edge of the woods. Their simple attire of creamy blouses and solid-colored bodices vaguely communicate their peasant identity. Painted with flawless technique and a smooth surface, the figures are nearly life-size and immediately relatable to the viewer. The mostly subdued color palette is enlivened by the red hair ribbon of the girl to the left, who looks attentively at her younger companion holding hazelnuts, likely gathered from the bush behind them.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, peasant subjects grew increasingly popular among collectors in continental Europe and, especially, in industrializing England and the United States. This painting’s original price tripled when William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s dealer offered it to an American shortly after he had purchased the work from the artist.

Title The Hazelnuts (The Nut Gatherers)

Artwork Date 1882

Artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Life Dates 1825-1905

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 34 1/2 × 52 3/4 inches (87.6 × 134 cm) Framed: 44 5/8 × 62 3/8 × 2 7/8 inches (113.3 × 158.4 × 7.3 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Modern Art to 1970

Credit Gift of Mrs. William E. Scripps

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 54.458

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower left: W-BOVGVEREAV-1882

Provenance

November 22, 1882, sold by the artist to (Adolph Goupil & Cie., Paris, France);
December 5, 1882, (Samuel P. Avery, New York, New York, USA);
by 1884, Mary Jane Morgan [1825–1885], New York, New York, USA;
March 3–15, 1886, American Art Association sale (New York, New York, USA), lot 154;
1886, James E. Scripps [1835–1906] (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
until 1954, William E. Scripps [1882–1952] and Mrs. William E. Scripps [1884–1968] (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
1954-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Baschet, L[udovic], ed. Catalogue Illustré des Oeuvres de W. Bouguereau. Paris, 1885, p. 63.

“The Morgan Collection of Paintings.” Art Amateur 14, no. 5 (October 1885): pp. 89–90, p. 89.

Catalogue of the Art Collection Formed by the Late Mrs. Mary J. Morgan. Sales cat., American Art Galleries, New York, March 8, 1886, p. 66, no. 154.

Catalogue of Works of Art Exhibited at the First Annual Exhibition, Held in Merrill Hall, Opening May 29, 1886. Exh. cat., Detroit Museum of Art. Detroit, 1886, p. 7, no. 19.

"The Morgan Picture Sale: List of the Pictures, Prices, and Names of the Buyers and Dealers." Art Amateur 14, no. 5 (April 1886): p. 117.

Catalogue of Paintings, Water Colors, Drawings, Etchings and Collection of Corean Antiquities, Second Exhibition, Detroit Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Detroit Museum of Art. Detroit, 1889, p. 7, no. 8.

Catalogue of a Private Collection of Paintings, Ancient and Modern. Detroit, 1897, p. 4, no. 4.

Vachon, Marius. William Bouguereau. Paris, 1900, p. 155.

Réau, Louis. L'Art Français aux États-Unis. Paris, 1926, p. 164.

Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts: A Check List of the Paintings Acquired before June, 1965. Detroit, 1965, p. 17.

Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts: A Check List of the Paintings Acquired before January 1967. Detroit, 1967, p. 17.

Ocvirk, Otto G., Robert O. Bone, Robert E. Stinson and Philip R. Wigg. Art Fundamentals: Theory and Practice. Dubuque, 1968, p. 8 (ill.).

Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts: A Check List of the Paintings Acquired before May, 1970. Detroit, 1970, p. 21.

Isaacson, Robert. William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Exh. cat., New York Cultural Center. New York, 1975, p. 26, no. 18 (ill.).

Isaacson, Robert. “The Evolution of Bouguereau’s Grand Manner.” Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin 62 (1975): 75–83, pp. 81–82 (ill.).

Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art, et al. Tokyo, 1989, p. 87 (ill.); pp. 171, 218–219, 241, no. 55 (ill.).

Peck, William H. The Detroit Institute of Arts: A Brief History. Detroit, 1991, pp. 34–35 (ill.).

Treasures from the Detroit Institute of Arts: Masters of Impressionism and Modern Art. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts, Sogo Museum of Art, et al. Tokyo, 2001, pp. 10 (ill.), 30, 33.

"Let yourself go to the new DIA." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 81, no. 3/4 (2007): pp. 3–38, pp. 18, 20–21 (ill.).

Sojka, Nancy. "Self-Portraiture: Reflections on Lovis Corinth." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 83, no. 1/4 (2009): pp. 64–71, p. 65.

Bartoli, Damien and Frederick Ross. William Bouguereau. New York, 2010, vol. 1: p. 283 (ill.); vol. 2: p. 213 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The Hazelnuts (The Nut Gatherers), 1882, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. William E. Scripps, 54.458.