Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau's The Dove Fanciers (1883)
Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau The Dove Fanciers c.1883 Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau’s “ The Dove Fanciers ” is a scene that shows two women, one staring at the other while the other looks at and contemplates the white dove. This seems to be an intimate exchange with disregard for the viewer. The women are barefoot in nature. One woman holds a birdcage, while the other holds a dove. They are a triangle intertwined into each other, with the bird cage as an artifact of change. The painting represents transition. The 19 th century was a transitionary period for women. This was when women were gaining their independence and being freed, like the dove in the women's arms. The woman with the dove is dressed in white and pink and is kneeling before the woman in blue, holding the birdcage. The woman with the dove is the representation of change. She is a renewal of feminine ideologies dressed in white, and she reflects innocence. In comparison, the woman in blue holding the bird...