Work Interrupted probably depicts Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey, at her loom. During her husband’s long absence, Penelope promised her suitors that she would select a new husband as soon as she had finished weaving her father-in-law's burial shroud; but she postponed the decision by secretly unraveling part of the cloth each night. Bouguereau's strict adherence to a realistic, classical style gained him widespread acclaim in France and the United States at the same time that the Impressionist painters were struggling to establish a different approach. The luminous color and delicate, almost invisible brush strokes are hallmarks of Bouguereau's work.

Written by Sara Sligar, Class of 2010

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