It's one of the Brooks Museum's most popular paintings: "At the Foot of the Cliff," by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. As curator Stanton Thomas points out in this week's Culture Desk, the artist's dreamy and creamy brush strokes have beguiled art lovers for more than a century. But his contemporaries -- particularly the Impressionists -- weren't entirely uncritical of Bouguereau's smooth moves.
Au pied de la falaise (At the Foot of the Cliff), 1886
Artist: William-Adolphe Bouguereau, French, 1825 - 1905
Medium: Oil on canvas
Painting: 43 1/4 x 26 1/4 in. (109.9 x 66.7 cm)
Frame: 55 x 38 x 4 1/2 in. (139.7 x 96.5 x 11.4 cm)
Credit Line: Bequest of Morrie A. Moss
Object Number: 93.4