Bouguereau Remastered

Detail of Holiday Venus by saufnase on Worth1000. Click for full image (742×860)

There are many remastered versions of Bouguereau’s quintessential 1879 painting Naissance de Venus (Birth of Venus). The one shown here depicts the goddess of love as Mother Christmas. It was created by digital artist saufnase for a Holiday Mod Ren contest on Worth1000 in 2005, where it was voted the best of 55 entries.

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find nearly one hundred (!) contemporary variations. Click the second to view Holiday Venus on Worth1000.

Detail of Santa by DerAlt on Worth1000. Click for full image (576×774)

In December 2004, photoshop site Worth1000 organized their second Holiday Mod Ren contest, subtitled Santa meets Bouguereau. Digital artists DerAlt took the title very literally and created this image, entitled Santa, based on Bouguereau’s 1873 painting Nymphes et Satyre (Nymphs and Satyr), scooping the first prize.

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find no less than forty contemporary variations. Click the second to view Santa on Worth1000.

Detail of Lady Madonna by Trust on Worth1000. Click for full image (935×1590)

In November 2011 photoshop site Worth1000 organized a Beatle Songs contest, challenging digital artists to “Take a Beatle lyric, or a Beatle title, and make it a reality with your mad chopping skillz!“. The contest drew 20 entries, one of which was a Remastered Bouguereau.

Lady Madonna by Trust fell just outside the prizes, finishing #4. The entry was based on Bouguereau’s 1878 painting La Charité (Charity), featuring American singer and actress Madonna personifying the subject of the Beatles song Lady Madonna. Several other elements of the painting (the children and the money) make it an almost perfect illustration for the song lyrics:

Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who find the money when you pay the rent
Did you think that money was heaven sent

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find around 30 contemporary variations. Click the second to view Lady Madonna on Worth1000.

Detail of Pepper Spraying Cop. Click for full image (906×1280)

In November 2011, the infamous Pepper Spraying Cop turned into an instant Internet Meme. A dedicated blog on Tumblr became a repository of photoshopped creations featuring Lt John Pike. Even Bouguereau didn’t escape the teargas! Shown above is one of the entries on the blog, made by an unnamed digital artist. The comment says:

“Mom, can you really just stop having me drink sea water out of those gross shells? You know that those things are full of sand and little crabs and stuff, right? You HAVE dranken out of them before? Yes, I said “dranken”. Do something about it. What, you gonna correct me? You’re the one having an unabashed tide pool rgyAAUUAUAGGHAGHAGAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

Below you can compare the original Bouguereau painting, Naissance de Venus (Birth of Venus, 1879), with the pepper-sprayed version. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find nearly one hundred (!) contemporary versions of Bouguereau’s painting. Click the second to view Pepper Spraying Cop on Tumblr.

Click for full image (Flickr)

Bouguereau’s iconic painting Nymphes et Satyre (Nymphs and Satyr) first saw the public light in 1873. Since Bouguereau had a considerable following at this time in America, the painting was promptly bought by New York collector John Wolfe. After a decade in private ownership, the Nymphs spent the next twenty years in full public view, hanging opposite the bar in the Hoffman House at Broadway and 25th Street where it became a hot tourist attraction to the great annoyance of local moralists.

During that period, cigar factory Foster-Hilson featured the painting on their boxes – in its original version. After the death of its owner in 1901 the hotel closed, and the painting was sold. Shortly after that American Tobacco Co. bought Foster-Hilson. The painting itself remained unscathed, but not the cigar label. Corporate America demonstrated its concern for public morals, if not art, by adding its own “touch” to the label. The two versions are pictured here:

You can read a lot more about the history of the painting here. Below you can compare the original and censored versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find dozens more remastered versions of Bouguereau’s masterpiece. Click the other two images to view the cigar label in more detail.