A Calling
Medium
oil on fabric
Dimensions
unframed: 104 × 71 cm · framed: 132 × 99 × 10.6 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the Frances W. Ingalls Trust
Accession Number
1996.272
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Seated on a stone step in the countryside, a young girl has realized that her calling in life is to be an artist. Bouguereau was famous for his innovative depictions of children. In 1900 a critic wrote, "[F]ew artists have represented childhood with more tenderness, charm, and spirit than Bouguereau . . . [H]e has invented the most picturesque, the most pleasing, the most original scenes of an almost endless variety." Bouguereau was no less famous for his remarkably life-like images. Here he con...