Etude de tete de Femme Blonde de face (William-Adolphe Bouguereau)

William-Adolphe Bouguereau [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons
I wanted to share this picture of a pretty lady, but one who could very easily blend into the background depending on how she is dressed, for a few reasons today. First, it could represent Mary, who sees herself as nothing exceptional but Wes sees as beautiful. Second, because of the lady's ability to fade into the background as just one of many threads in the tapestry of life, it could be representative of all the ladies Mary wishes to see respected. And third, because her wide eyes observing all she see is representative of how, in this chapter of our story, Wes begins to see things from a different perspective -- through the eyes of a woman.

~*~*~

She was not just another pretty face in a light-coloured gown who lined the walls with the other hopeful debutants waiting, eagerly, to be selected by the likes of him. Mary was more than that. She knew her mind. She knew what she wanted. And she was not going to be swayed by all the charm, money, or titles in the world to give up that which she held to as important. She was the prettiest immovable force he had ever met.

[from Persuading Miss Mary, Marrying Elizabeth book 4]

~*~*~

Confounding Caroline  ~  Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

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Leenie Brown

Leenie Brown fell in love with Jane Austen's works when she first read Sense and Sensibility followed immediately by Pride and Prejudice in her early teens. As the second of five daughters and an avid reader, she has always loved to see where her imagination takes her and to play with and write about the characters she meets along the way. In 2013, these two loves collided when she stumbled upon the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction. A year later, in 2014, she began writing her own Austen-inspired stories and began publishing them in 2015. Leenie lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two teenage boys and her very own Mr. Brown (a wonderful mix of all the best of Darcy, Bingley and Edmund with healthy dose of the teasing Mr. Tillney and just a dash of the scolding Mr. Knightley).

8 thoughts on “Etude de tete de Femme Blonde de face (William-Adolphe Bouguereau)”

  1. What a beautiful picture and a beautiful excerpt. Wow! Wes has his work cut out for him. At least he realizes the true essence of Mary and appreciates her for who and what she is and stands for. I hope he wins her heart as well as her respect.

    1. Isn’t that a sweet lady in the picture? I love how soft both she and her expression look.

      I truly don’t think Wes would have found Mary nearly as enticing if she was not somewhat impossible. He seems to thrive on being loved by challenging women 🙂

  3. I just poured my heart out on this post on another server and lost the whole thing. Sigh. I have problems with Firefox at times.

    Anyway, loved the painting. That was one prolific artist!! I’m so looking forward to tomorrow’s post.

    1. Sorry about the server issues. Technology is great when it works but when it doesn’t it sure can cause issues.

      I really do love this painting. She could inspire a whole host of stories, I think. 😀

      I hope you still feel that way at the end of tomorrow’s post. 😉 (It’s one of those want to turn the page to see what’s next sorts of posts)

      1. Just an FYI, when I know I have a long post… I will often put it on a word document and then copy and past it to the comment box. I too have lost whole posts and had to either FORGET it or start from scratch. Just a suggestion, Michelle.

        1. Thank you J.W. I will seriously have to try that. Sometimes I remember to copy so I can paste again on another server or just retry, but I get caught up in the moment after trying to edit out my silly errors. I think, ‘whew! hopefully I haven’t misspelled a word or misused a word I was trying to think of…okay, let’s go!’ Thank you again.

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