NEW YORK, NEW YORK.-Jennifer Friedlin of the Associated Press reported that the 19th-century painting that art lovers did not want to be sold by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts has been auctioned. "The Bohemian," by French artist William Bouguereau, went for $650,000 at Christie’s auction house recently. Its presale estimate was $700,000 to $900,000. The price does not include Christie’s commission.

Although there were numerous protests trying to impede the painting’s sale, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts trustees voted to sell the painting of the Parisian Gypsy girl to raise money to buy other art, the Associated Press reported.

Fred Ross, founder of the Art Renewal Center, an online museum that champions 19th-century realistic painting, condemned the museum’s "disastrous decisions" on his Web site and placed ads in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis objecting to the sale.

"It could end up anywhere — Outer Mongolia or Japan," Ross told the newspaper. "This is a great, great painting, and America deserves it."

The museum purchased "The Bohemian" from the Minneapolis Public Library for $3,500 in 1974, when the artist was out of fashion. Since then, scholars have been reassessing his work, and collectors are snapping it up.

Patrick Noon, the institute’s painting curator, has said that proceeds from the sale of "The Bohemian" would be used to acquire "Battledore," an 1868 painting by English artist Albert Moore. Noon said that the Moore painting was a more significant work done by an artist who was not in the museum’s collection.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts owns Bouguereau’s "Temptation," a work Noon said is more important than "The Bohemian."

Adolphe-William Bouguereau (1825-1905) was a prominent French Victorian painter. Like many of his contemporaries, he carefully studied form and technique and immersed himself in classical sculpture and painting. He was well known for his portrayal of children and domestic scenes. Click on the following thumbnails to view Adolphe-William Bouguereau’s works.