Alma Mater
)
[Oil on canvas, 90 1/2 x
55 inches (230 x 140 cm), Private collection]
Alma Mater
Alma Mater is a patriotic masterpiece.
The name Alma Mater is Latin for Nurturing Mother.
However, it was also adapted from Latin into the more commonly known
words 'alma mater' 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 Mater 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.
[by Kara Ross]
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