Detail of The Death of William Adolphe Bouguereau by F. Scott Hess. Click for full image (1920×1546)

Strictly speaking this painting is not a Remastered Bouguereau but it’s funny enough to deserve a place here. The Death of William Adolphe Bouguereau is a creation by American painter by F. Scott Hess. In his own words:

When I was a freshman at Lawrence University (1973-74) I sat through many an art history lecture in the same hall that much of the university’s art collection was hung. One large painting, of a nymph surrounded by putti, was by French academic painter William Adolphe Bouguereau. This painter was the boogie man of modernism, and was regularly denigrated in lectures as the kind of horrible artist the impressionists rebelled against. As the tri-mesters progressed, the Bouguereau painting in the hall began to collect puncture wounds from students pens and pencils, until there were twenty or more small holes. At the time the value of the painting was probably very low. Today, it would once again be worth millions… at least if it hadn’t been vandalized.

I don’t care much for the content of Bouguereau’s work, but the man can paint soft female flesh better than I ever will. I made this piece after rediscovering a kitschy old sketch of mine, and deciding to convert it to be about the death of the famous academic painter. He spent most of his life happily painting beautiful girls and women (not a bad occupation for a lifetime), so I felt it would be interesting for him to be tossed out the window of his La Rochelle studio by a modern dance troupe consisting of little girls in black leotards.

Below is the full painting. Click to view it on Open Museum.