Nymphs and Satyr by Bouguereau

Painting: Nymphs and Satyr (Nymphes et Satires), oil on canvas, created by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1873, currently on display at Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), a French academic painter, was a traditionalist whose realistic paintings and mythological themes were modern interpretations of classical subjects with an emphasis on the female human body. The painting ‘Nymphs and Satyr’ (1873) by Bouguereau was exhibited in Paris in 1873. Sterling Clark found the painting by the end of the 19th century, displayed in the bar of the Hoffman House Hotel, New York City. Later, Clark rediscovered the painting in storage at the Hoffman in the 1930s and acquired it in 1943.

Set in an isolated pond, the painting depicts a group of bathing nymphs who have captured a lascivious satyr spying on them; three nymphs are tugging him toward a dunking and a fourth is beckoning other nymphs to join the fun. In Greek mythology, satyrs are male companions of Pan and Dionysus that roamed the woods and mountains.