William-Adolphe Bouguereau

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (November 30, 1825 – August 19, 1905) was a French academic painter. William Bouguereau (French pronunciation: [wiljɑm buɡ(ə)ˈʁo]) was a traditionalist; in his realistic genre paintings he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations ofClassical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau was born in La Rochelle, France on November 30, 1825, into a family of wine and olive oil merchants. He seemed destined to join the family business but for the intervention of his uncle Eugène, a Roman Catholic priest, who taught him classical and Biblical subjects, and arranged for Bouguereau to go to high school. He showed artistic talent early on. His father was convinced by a client to send him to the École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, where he won first prize in figure painting for a depiction of Saint Roch. To earn extra money, he designed labels for jams and preserves.^[1]

 The Birth of Venus (1879)

 The Wave (1896)

 Evening Mood (1882)

Return of Spring (1886)