|
Steve Martin used to have a similar problem ("Cheese is 'fromage'. Egg is 'oeuf'. It's like those French have a DIFFERENT word for EVERYTHING!)
Pity the shy persons of the world who only want a 'venti' size latte and a tuna 'focaccia', but just can't risk the hazard of choking on those words.
(How do you say 'venti', anyway, and what would you do with a quart of coffee?)
I've just reviewed a super still-life video from the very "painterly" Gregg Kreutz (both the video and his book, "Problem Solving for Oil Painters", are incredible), and his pronunciation of "chiaroscuro" (there's another "r" between the "a" and the first "o") accords with Leo's.
It is my recollection from some traumatic French study a long time ago that indeed the "u" after the "g" in Bouguereau gives it a hard "g" sound. The confusion is likely due to frequent misspellings omitting the "u".
I believe, too, that Henri threw his hands up in frustration and went by the name "Hank" during the latter part of his career.
|