The Broken Pitcher

In this genre scene, a young girl sits beside a broken pitcher, the vessel she was presumably carrying water from a well or fountain. She wears a blue skirt, a white blouse and a red shawl draped over her shoulders. Her calm posture stands in quiet contrast with the shattered jug, which becomes the focal point of the story. Bouguereau, a leading figure of French academic painting, combines precise drawing with soft, smooth modelling of the figures, a hallmark of his style. The picture has been read as a symbol of lost innocence, though that interpretation does not exhaust its meaning. It was the first work by the painter to reach California, acquired by the de Young family in 1893, and it is now held in San Francisco. Its appeal lies in how an everyday object, a broken vessel beside a young woman, takes on symbolic weight while keeping an unassuming appearance.

Painter

William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Date

1891

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

53 × 33 cm

Museum

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco

Movement

academic art

Genre

genre art

Depicts

sitting, pitcher, girl, shawl, fountain, water carrier

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