The original oil painting by Inspiration was created by the French Classical artist William Adolphe Bouguereau in 1898 – This is a beautiful and sensitive hand painted oil on canvas which captures Bougureau’s ability to depict the sense and sensibilities of youth – More specifically and profoundly young women, adolescences and children. This reproduction is of the highest standards and quite literally depicts that which was the artist’s Inspiration his entire artistic life.

Inspiration was completed just seven years before the artist’s death in Paris – A time when the artist’s oeuvre was dedicated and motivated by ancient Greco-Roman mythologies and poetry. Inspiration clearly defines how the artist was able to reflect upon the monumentality of the classical arts without actually reproducing them in a literal sense. The work has a uniqueness that evolves from the imaginative approach of the artist.

The model for Inspiration is thought to be Ogile Charpentier who sat for Bouguereau many times between 1896 and 1898: She is the model for Irène, Le voile, and Le rêve. Charpentier was Italian, not French which suggests the artist specifically and purposefully chose her in a bid to truly reflect the ancient classics of Rome: Although, as was true for the ancient artists of Rome, it was usual for Bouguereau to use several models to produce a single painting.

Bouguereau’s oil paintings are on display at more than one hundred museums worldwide. The original Inspiration is on permanent exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio, USA.