Elizabeth Jane Gardner
Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau was an American academic and salon painter, who was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. She was an American expatriate who died in Paris where she had lived most of her life. She studied in Paris under the figurative painter Hugues Merle, the well-known salon painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre, and finally under William-Adolphe Bouguereau. After Bouguereau's wife died, Gardner became his paramour and after the death of his mother, who bitterly opposed the union, she married him in 1896. She adopted his subjects, compositions, and even his smooth facture, channeling his style so successfully that some of her work might be mistaken for his. In fact, she was quoted as saying, "I know I am censured for not more boldly asserting my individuality, but I would rather be known as the best imitator of Bouguereau than be nobody!"
Gardner's best known work may be The Shepherd David Triumphant, which shows the young shepherd with the lamb he has rescued. Among her other works were Cinderella, Cornelia and Her Jewels, Corinne, Fortune Teller, Maud Muller, Daphnis and Chloe, Ruth and Naomi, The Farmer's Daughter, The Breton Wedding, and some portraits.
Early life and art education
Gardner first attended the Young Ladies' Female Academy in Exeter and then moved on to the Lasell Female Seminary in Auburndale, Massachusetts, where she studied art and languages, learning English, French, Italian and German. She graduated in 1856 and spent the next few years teaching French at a newly opened school in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1864, after teaching art at Lasell Seminary, she and Imogene Robinson left for France. To pay her rent, she spent her time copying paintings by contemporary artists and older masters in prestigious galleries. Later, in the autumn of that year, Gardner decided to apply to the École des Beaux-Arts. This school was known as the most prestigious art academy in Paris. Her application was rejected. Like most if not all art establishments at that time the school was male only. The ban on women's applications was not lifted until 1897, thirty-five years after Gardner had applied. However, Gardner did not give up. She continued to enroll in private classes and to build an outstanding portfolio of art work.Career
Soon after Gardner arrived in Paris with her former teacher, Imogene Robinson, she began copying pictures at the Luxembourg Museum, and Gardner's studio became a place where Americans requested commissioned copies of their favorite European paintings. In a letter to her brother, Gardner noted, "Americans are buying many pictures. I have always had the satisfaction of pleasing those for whom I have painted. One gentleman was so satisfied with a copy I did for him that he paid me more than I asked." She briefly studied with Jean-Baptiste-Ange Tissier before leaving in 1865 to join an independent cooperative women's studio.In 1868, Gardner was the first American woman to exhibit at the Paris Salon. Also during that time period, her paintings were accepted in 25 Paris Salons. Awarded a gold medal at the 1872 Salon, she became the first woman ever to receive such an honor. Gardner Bouguereau's works were accepted to the Salon more than any other woman painter in history and more than all but a few of the men.
The biggest challenge to her training was the restriction on women studying anatomy from nude models. She circumvented this restriction by donning male attire to gain admittance to the all-male drawing school at Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins et de la Savonnerie. In 1873, Gardner was finally admitted to the previously all-male Académie Julian, where she studied with Jules-Joseph Lefebvre and Bouguereau.
Gardner exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition|exhibited] her work at the Museum of [Science and Industry (Chicago)|Palace of Fine Arts] and The Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.