William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825–1905)
Getting Up (Le Lever), ca. 1865
Oil on panel, 10 x 8 in.
Signed upper right: W. BOUGUEREAU
1996.21

Following his association with the Durand-Ruel gallery in 1855, Bouguereau increasingly created happy scenes of mothers and children—a genre made popular by his friend Hughes Merle, who also collaborated with Durand-Ruel. Getting Up typifies a kind of image that was especially popular with an international clientele.

The present work is a smaller version of a painting of the same title dated 1865 that Bouguereau sold to the French art dealer Durand-Ruel (location unknown). Like other artists, Bouguereau often painted reductions either for sale or reproduction.