The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Vertically-oriented oil painting depicting a woman seated in profile on grass, turning to look at us and holding a child in her lap, another lying at her side, all with light skin tones. The woman extends her legs straight in front of her, the second child laying against them. Trees mostly in shadow, a gap in the green and orange leaves at the center right shows the dome of St. Peter's Basilica on the horizon.

Rest

1879

William Adolphe Bouguereau

(French, 1825–1905)
France, 19th century
oil on fabric
Framed: 204 x 156 x 15 cm (80 5/16 x 61 7/16 x 5 7/8 in.); Unframed: 164.5 x 117.8 cm (64 3/4 x 46 3/8 in.)
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1915.722
Location: 219 19th Century European

Description

One of the most celebrated academic painters of his time, Bouguereau underscores the moral virtues of the Italian peasants in this painting by depicting the dome of St. Peter's in the distance. The idealized figures and their triangular grouping recall the Holy Family paintings by Renaissance master Raphael 400 years earlier. The painting was purchased directly from the artist by Cleveland banker and philanthropist Hinman B. Hurlbut in July 1879.
  • “Exhibitions.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 3, no. 4 (October 1916): 1–3. Mentioned: p. 3 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 170 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
    Published as: Mother and Children. Reproduced: p. 212 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 36 no. 05, May 1996 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8 archive.org
    Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 80-82, Vol. I, no. 31
    Ross, Frederick C., and Kara Lysandra Ross. William Bouguereau: The Essential Works. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: ACC Art Books, 2018. Reproduced: p. 8, 201; Mentioned: p. 34, 171, 176
    Paul, Tanya and Stanton Thomas, eds. Bouguereau & America. Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee Art Museum; Memphis, TN: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art ; New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2019. Reproduced p. 2, p. 127, cat. 22; Mentioned: pp.37,43, 126
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Motherhood across Time. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 5
    Rikhof, Maaike. 2022. “Fortunata, an Italienne célèbre: Identifying the Model in Thérèse Schwartze’s Young Italian Woman With Puck the Dog”. The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 70 (3):244-57. p. 252 doi.org
    Dessin Anciens & Du XIXe Siècle. Paris: Artcurial, 2025, 107. Reproduced: p. 107
  • Bouguereau & America. Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI (February 14-May 12, 2019); Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN (organizer) (June 22-September 22, 2019).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    Norfolk, Chrysler Museum; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Paris 1889: American Artists at the Universal Exposition (1989-90), 237-38 (repr.).
    Gifu (Japan), Museum of Fine Arts; Kamakura, Museum of Modern Art. Paris autour de 1882 (1982-83), no. 13, pl. 13.
    New York Cultural Center. William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1975), no. 15, pl. 15.
    William-Adolphe Bouguereau. The New York Cultural Center, New York, NY (organizer) (December 13, 1974-January 26, 1975).
    Paris, Musée du Petit Palais; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum. William Bouguereau 1825-1905 (1984-85), 64, 108, no. 90 (repr.).
  • {{cite web|title=Rest|url=false|author=William Adolphe Bouguereau|year=1879|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1915.722