William Bouguereau The Motherland Painting

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90 1/2 x 55 inches (230 x 140 cm)
Private collection
"Alma Parens is a patriotic masterpiece. The name Alma Parens is Latin for Nurturing Mother. However, it was also adapted from Latin into the more commonly known words 'alma Parens' meaning national anthem. The woman in this image represents Mother France nurturing her children. Her face is filled with resolution and a determined steadfastness to her cause. The nine children surrounding her look poor and in desperate need of her aid. If one looks closely at the mother one can almost see a slight glimpse of worry in her eyes, and a slight uncertainty about her ability to perform her duty, for storm clouds above her forecast rough times ahead.

As Damien Bartoli, world expert on Bougureau, points out: 'The beautiful and impassive young woman forms a truly modern icon, wearing a wreath of ears of corn decorated with flowers in the colors of the French nation: the blue corn-flower, white daisies and red corn poppies. At her feet lie strewn the symbols of agricultural France in the form of wheat and a grape vine, but also of an apple, symbolizing the autumn, the season of fruit and the harvest'. Alma Parens broke the world record for a Bougureau painting sold at auction in November of 1998 when it sold for $2,640,000, a record which was again broken a year and a half later with the sale of Charity for $3,600,000."