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Portrait of a Woman
Mary Cassatt, 1872
Oil on canvas, 23 1/4" x 19 3/4"
Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
This early work of Mary Cassatt was painted during a stay in Parma, Italy, where she studied the work of High Renaissance master Correggio. The influence of the Italian master is clearly shown in the chiaroscuro and in the soft, golden light of this painting.
Cassatt is well known for her association with Impressionism and for her sensitive portrayal of women and children. This portrait of an unnamed peasant woman reveals that Cassatt's talent and sensitivity were well expressed quite early in her career. [ Detail ]
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Master James Hatch as Marshall's Attendant at the Montem, Eton, 1796
Sir William Beechey
Oil on canvas, 73" x 52 1/2"
Legion of Honor, San Francicso, CA
William Beechey was the foremost portraitist in Britain during the late 18th and early 19th century. He enjoyed one of the longest careers in the history of the Royal Academy, exhibiting there for over sixty years. Beechey was appointed court painter to Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, and painted portraits of members of the royal family. As the portrait painter of the day, Beechey rendered the fashionable elite of Georgian society—including children—with aristocratic dignity.
This portrait, showing a pupil at Eton in military uniform, is a fine example of the quality of work produced by Beechey at the height of his career. The somber tone of earlier works is replaced with a lighter palette and more spontaneous brushwork. [ Detail ]
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Jacopo Strada
Titian, 1567/68
Oil on canvas, 49 1/4" x 37 1/2"
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Titian dominated Venetian art for 60 years, creating a huge body of work, including some of the finest portraits ever painted. The outstanding Kunsthistorisches Museum collection in Vienna contains four superb Titian portraits, including this painting from his later years.
Hapsburg courtier Jacopo de Strada was a naturally gifted, true 'Renaissance man.' He was a scientist, architect, engineer, writer, artist, numismatist, and linguist. As an art collector and dealer, he provided Titian with commissions for his painting.
Titian's portrait of Jacopo Strada is a particularly energetic work, depicting his multi-talented subject in lively action. The broad handling of paint with a heavily loaded brush is typical of Titian's mature style. [ Detail ]
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Archbishop Laud
Anthony Van Dyck, 1635
Oil on canvas, 47 1/2" x 37 3/4"
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
One of the finest small museums in Europe, the Fitzwilliam contains works by Titian, Rubens, Hals, Degas, Renoir, and many others. While living in north London, it was a pleasure for me to make regular studies of this fine collection in nearby Cambridge.
This portrait by Van Dyck, based on a composition by Titian, was widely acclaimed and imitated. Over forty version were painted in the seventeenth century. Van Dyck was noted for the lifelike depiction of his subject's hands, and this portrait is an excellent example. Van Dyck's masterful handling of paint also is clearly evident in the convincing portrayal of draperies. The archbishop's expressive hands and his authoritative, penetrating gaze reveal a work of superb insight and sensitivity. [ Detail ]
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Eduouard Manet
Henri Fantin-Latour, 1867
Oil on canvas, 46 1/4" x 35 1/2"
The Art Institute of Chicago
Admired for his still-life paintings of flowers, Henri Fantin-Latour was also an accomplished portraitist whose work reveals the influence of Gustave Courbet's realism. Fantin-Latour met Manet at the Louvre in 1857 and they became close friends until Manet's death in 1883. In two other works, Homage to Delacroix (1864) and Un Atelier aux Batignolles (1870), Fantin-Latour depicts Manet with a group of friends—avant-garde artists and writers. Here, though, Manet is portrayed by himself and the portrait describes him exactly as he was: a sophisticated bourgeoisie Parisian gentleman, a meticulously dressed man of refinement.
Set against a neutral background, the painting is rendered in mostly subdued tones. Fantin-Latour presents his friend as dignified and sympathetic. [ Detail ] Above the artist's signature at lower left is an inscription that reads, "A mon ami Manet."
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Miss Mary Edwards
William Hogarth, 1742
Oil on canvas, 49 3/4" x 39 7/8"
The Frick Collection, New York.
Eighteenth-century painter and engraver William Hogarth was an accomplished portraitist with a keen eye and skilled hand. As inventor of the modern moral narrative genre, he portrayed British life with biting satire and sharp perception of character, becoming known as the Shakespeare of painting.
Mary Edwards was one of the wealthiest women in England and a loyal patron of Hogarth. This masterpiece displays the vigor and freshness of Hogarth's technique, particularly in the rich fabric of the dress and in the rendering of jewellery and ruffles. [ Detail ] See the painting close up with the Zoomify feature at the Frick web site.
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Cecilia Gallerani
(Lady with an Ermine)
Leonardo da Vinci, c 1484
Oil on panel, 21 1/2" x 15 3/4"
Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland.
Although he finished comparatively few paintings, Leonardo da Vinci was a versatile genius and one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. This portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, young mistress of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, is one of three famous Leonardo portraits, the other two being of Ginevra de' Benci (at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) and Lisa Gherardini (the Mona Lisa, at The Louvre, Paris).
The ermine's white fur was a symbol of chastity and purity and the animal was one of the emblems on the Duke's coat of arms. Also, the Greek word for ermine is a pun on the sitter's name. Leonardo has rendered Cecilia's gaze, turning from shadow to light, and the animal's predatory expression with equal mastery.
[ Detail ]
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Girl with a Pearl Earring
Johannes Vermeer, c 1665
Oil on canvas, 17 1/2" x 15 3/8"
Mauritshuis, The Hague.
One of the most highly regarded Dutch artists of all time, Vermeer produced a small body of work of exceptional beauty and clarity. This outstanding painting is remarkable for its immediacy and delicacy. It is not a true portrait but, rather, a figure painting or idealized study. With his flawless technique and sensitivity to light, Vermeer has produced a work that is simple and spellbinding. The girl's face is broadly rendered yet convincingly natural. Her shining eyes and moist lips echo the luster of the pearl earing. The pearl is in fact a metaphor for the girl herself.
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Walt Whitman
Thomas Eakins, 1888
Oil on canvas, 30 1/8" x 24 1/4"
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
As director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Thomas Eakins had a profound influence on American art. Eakins was a keen student of science and teacher of anatomy. This portrait of American poet Walt Whitman reveals the influence of Rembrandt and Velazquez in Eakins' work. The subject's head is finely sculpted in a realistic, painterly fashion and Eakins displays his talent for psychological penetration.
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Self Portrait
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c 1670-1673
Oil on panel, 48" x 42 1/8"
The National Gallery, London.
17th-century Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was renowned throughout Europe for his spiritual paintings, depicting humanized madonnas and saints. This self portrait is one of his finest works. Murillo's technical skill and splendid coloring influenced later British painters Reynolds and Constable. Besides his religious works, Murillo excelled at painting affectionate and touching studies of peasant boys and girls. These genre works, such as A Flower Seller, have been much admired and frequently copied.
[ Detail ]
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