When William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) exhibited the painting Indigent Family (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery) at the 1865 French Salon, Paris was undergoing an extensive rebuilding program. The Indigent Family, however, instead of focusing on the renovated city of modernity, fashion and consumerism, revealed the backstage of Paris, and focused on the new forms of social misery and alienation that lay behind the urban improvements. Utilizing Howard S. Becker’s (1982) definition of the art world as consisting of all the people whose coordinated activities produce works that are defined as art, this article examines the relationship between Bouguereau’s oeuvre and its social environment. Through an examination of the artist’s aims, his dealer’s strategies and the critics’ reception, it analyzes the difference between the French buyers’ lack of interest in the painting and the British collectors’ enthusiastic response. The article uses the assimilation-contrast theory in order to claim that embellished poverty, which was rejected by critics on account of commercialization, attracted the bourgeoisie because it could be assimilated into its own range of experiences. Combined with theories of empathy, which decrypt the benefits of self-interest that lie at the heart of empathic feelings, the article asserts that Bouguereau’s idealized beggar generated public empathy because its embellishment produced compassion through the process of assimilation and shared identity. By purchasing an image of an idealized beggar that fell within their range of acceptance, the article claims that the clients not only verified their imagery-imaginary benevolence, but also generated genuine generosity.

中文翻译：

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意图、解释和接受：威廉·布格罗贫困家庭的贫困审美化

当威廉·阿道夫·布格罗（William-Adolphe Bouguereau，1825-1905 年）在 1865 年的法国沙龙上展出《贫困家庭》（伯明翰博物馆和美术馆）时，巴黎正在进行大规模的重建计划。然而，The Indigent Family 并没有关注现代化、时尚和消费主义的翻新城市，而是揭示了巴黎的后台，并关注了城市改善背后的新形式的社会苦难和异化。利用霍华德·贝克尔 (Howard S. Becker) (1982) 将艺术世界定义为由协调活动产生被定义为艺术的作品的所有人组成，本文考察了布格罗的作品与其社会环境之间的关系。通过考察艺术家的目标、经销商的策略和评论家的反应，它分析了法国买家对这幅画缺乏兴趣与英国收藏家的热情反应之间的区别。这篇文章使用同化对比理论来声称，被批评家以商业化为由拒绝的修饰贫困吸引了资产阶级，因为它可以被同化到自己的经验范围中。结合同理心的理论，该理论解密了处于同理心核心的自我利益的好处，文章断言布格罗理想化的乞丐产生了公众同理心，因为它的修饰通过同化和共享身份的过程产生了同情心。通过购买属于他们接受范围的理想化乞丐的图像，