Thursday 3 February 2011

Wikipedia's 10th

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia celebrates its 10th anniversary this year (title link). So I thought I'd join in the celebrations by posting my one small contribution to its arts content. I'd searched Wikipedia, without success, for Elizabeth Bouguereau, the wife of French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau. She was US citizen Elizabeth Gardner, who went to study art in Paris under Hugues Merle, then Jules Lefebvre and finally William-Adolphe Bouguereau, whom she later married. I tried to enter a Wikipedia cross-reference for Elizabeth Bouguereau, to take the reader to the entry for Elizabeth Gardner. Three times my attempt was rejected, presumably by a Yankee feminist who thought the cross-reference unnecessary or the French influence demeaning to US art. I persevered and finally won the argument. So, if you type Elizabeth Bouguereau into Wikipedia's search box, it will now take you to the entry for Elizabeth Jane Gardner. Her masterly paintings are so strongly influenced by her husband's style that the two artists may be confused. This example, A Young Girl holding a Basket of Grapes, is clearly signed Elizabeth Gardner, but it seems every inch a Bouguereau.

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