In the Star Wars universe, the Jedi are considered the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. Members of the Jedi order progress through four tiers of rank. The Padawan is the second level: the Jedi who has successfully learned to wield a lightsaber.

The image above shows one of Bouguereau’s subjects as a Padawan, holding a lightsaber. The picture is a clever adaptation of Bouguereau’s Boucles d’Oreilles (The earrings, 1891). Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find four more remastered versions of the original painting. Click the second (also featuring R2-D2, a droid from the Star Wars saga) to view Le padawan on DeviantArt.

American singer Beyoncé Giselle Knowles turned 30 on September 4, 2011. Beyoncé first became known as a member of Destiny’s Child, and rose to real stardom when she launched her solo career in 2003 and had a runaway success with the stand out track Crazy in Love. A celebratory wax figure of Beyoncé has been placed in Madame Tussauds in Washington D.C. to commemorate her 30th birthday. Photoshop site FreakingNews challenged digital artists to mark the singer’s big 3-0 any way they wished.

Shown above is the only Remastered Bouguereau in the contest. It was created by Hidra, and inspired by Bouguereau’s Jeune fille au crochet (Young girl crocheting, 1889). Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find several other contemporary versions, including portraits of Scarlett Johansson, Kate Winslet, Drew Barrymore and Jessica Simpson. Click the second to view Beyoncé on FreakingNews.

This hilarious creation is the work of American digital artist Daniel Campbell, publishing as Mavarius on DeviantArt. He is part of a worldwide group of designers working for Digital Fury, offering services that include web design, print design and illustrations.

The image is a remastered version of Bouguereau’s 1873 painting L’agneau nouveau-né (The Newborn Lamb). Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find two more contemporary variations on Bouguereau’s original work. Click the second to view L’agneau nouveau-né Llamafied on DeviantArt. (Also notice how the head of the peasant girl has been lifted to make place for the llama’s head.)

American model agency Ocla Models & Talent publishes a monthly life style magazine. In September 2010 they featured one of their models, Amber Watson, in a homage to William Bouguereau’s Jeune Bergère (Young Shepherdess), painted in 1868. The photo was shot by Richard Rossetto.

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find a dozen more remastered takes on the original painting. Click the second to view the photograph in the original publication.

It may take a trained eye to see that this image is a Remastered Bouguereau. But it is! Italian artist Gionatan Lombardi based his Young Shepherdess on Bouguereau’s 1868 painting of the same name. The technique is traditional (oil on canvas) but the result looks like it was a digital creation. As a matter of fact, Lombardi is already represented on this site with a computer-created version of another Bouguereau painting, Moissonneuse (The Harvester, 1868), which you can admire here.

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find a dozen remastered variations of the original painting. Click the second to view Lombardi’s version on the Behance Network.

True creators of Remastered Bouguereaus have an eye for detail. You find the proof in this work by digital artist jmbaggs who created Fair Piggy for a contest on photoshop site Worth1000 in 2003.

He went further than just replace the head of the lady in Bouguereau’s 1879 painting Reflexion (Reflection), but also realized that pigs don’t have five fingers but four — a detail that many others would have overlooked.

Below you can compare the two artworks. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find several more remastered versions of Bouguereau’s original painting. Click the second to view Fair Piggy on Worth1000.

March 2011. While the world is watching powerless at natural and man-made disasters in Japan, the discussion about the pros and cons of nuclear energy has become unavoidable. The image shown above looks like a fitting illustration of the fear and unease as a result of the events.

Nuclear Power Plant was created by Skorpion for a Nuclear Art photoshop contest on FreakingNews in 2007. Digital artists were challenged to photoshop nuclear themes into works of art. Skorpion’s image won the third prize among the 21 entries.

Nuclear Power Plant is a remastered version of Bouguereau’s 1879 painting Jeunes Bohemiennes (Young Gypsies). Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find ten more contemporary versions. Click the second to view Nuclear Power Plant on FreakingNews. Click the image at the top to view the image on the very large scale of 1,628 x 2,747 pixels.

In 2011, Natalie Portman won the Academy Award (aka Oscar), the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA Award for her lead performance in Black Swan.

The tribute above is a few years older. Natalie Drawing Water was created by digital artist Treason for the ninth edition of the popular Modern Renaissance contest on Worth1000, in October 2008. Digital artists were invited to put any modern celebrity, actor or popular culture figure as a substitute for the model of a painting or other form of artwork.

The image is based on Bouguereau’s 1871 painting Jeune Italienne puisant de l’eau (Italian Girl Drawing Water). Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find fifteen more remastered versions. Click the second to view Natalie Drawing Water on Worth1000.

In February 2010, photoshop site Worth1000 organized the eighth edition of their popular RoboRen contest. Digital artists were challenged to “take any classical work of art, and robotize it“. The contest drew 20 entries, six of which were Remastered Bouguereau’s. Of those six, three scooped the prizes.

Shown above is the Gold winner, created by carlosnumbertwo. He used Bouguereau’s 1899 work Douleur d’amour (Elegy) and turned it into a portrait of a dying robotic princess leaking oil, using a variety of sources, including a BMW engine block, a few motor cycles, and some jet engines.

Below are four more participating “Bouguerobots”, in the order of their popularity in the contest. Click each to visit the galleries where you can discover the original Bouguereau paintings, and many more remastered versions.

In January 2011 photoshop site Worth1000 organized the 14th edition of their popular Modern Renaissance contest. No less than 77 images competed for the awards, among which five Remastered Bouguereaus. None of those were among the prize winners but they’re still good enough to be shown here.

Below you find four of them. From left to right the portraits represent actresses Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts and Rose McGowan, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Click each to visit the galleries where you will find the original Bouguereau paintings and many more contemporary variations.