William Tell Peter Paul 1873 as lot 39 ('Portrait

1873 as lot 39 ('Portrait of Miss Morris (afterwards Mrs

A lost picture almost identical to this

intended for a representation of the Duke of Marlborough

A painting in Helsinki's Sinebrychoff Museum

Ayoub of the original

William Tell Peter Paul 1873 as lot 39 ('PortraitThe fourteenth century Swiss legend of William Tell would have no doubt been particularly resonant for Bourgeois, whose father was from Switzerland. The tale centres on William Tell obeying governor Gessler's order to shoot an apple from his own son's head. He did, before killing the governor and liberating Switzerland from Austrian rule. Schiller's famous tragedy on Tell appeared in 1804, around the time this picture was painted. The influence of De