1. 17 Jun


    The Pearl Necklace (1932). Dod Procter (English, 1890-1972). For a period in the 1920s Dod Procter was perhaps the most famous artist in Britain. Her painting of a reclining young woman, Morning, caught the public imagination when the Daily Mail purchased it ‘for the nation’ from the Royal Academy annual show in 1927.

    The Pearl Necklace (1932). Dod Procter (English, 1890-1972).

    For a period in the 1920s Dod Procter was perhaps the most famous artist in Britain. Her painting of a reclining young woman, Morning, caught the public imagination when the Daily Mail purchased it ‘for the nation’ from the Royal Academy annual show in 1927.

     

  2. 16 Jun


    Portrait of Mrs. Laura Keppel and her Sister Charlotte, Lady Huntingtower (1765). Allan Ramsay (Scottish, 1713-1784). Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Portraits of Laura and Charlotte Walpole, the eldest and youngest daughters of Sir Edward Walpole, and wives of Frederick Keppel, Bishop of Exeter, and of Lionel Tolmach, Earl of Dysart, Mrs. Keppel in white, and Lady Dysart in pink, a charming picture, vivid in colour, the dresses and ornaments of the person depicted with effect, giving evidence of a similarity of costume with the time of painting. 

    Portrait of Mrs. Laura Keppel and her Sister Charlotte, Lady Huntingtower (1765). Allan Ramsay (Scottish, 1713-1784). Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

    Portraits of Laura and Charlotte Walpole, the eldest and youngest daughters of Sir Edward Walpole, and wives of Frederick Keppel, Bishop of Exeter, and of Lionel Tolmach, Earl of Dysart, Mrs. Keppel in white, and Lady Dysart in pink, a charming picture, vivid in colour, the dresses and ornaments of the person depicted with effect, giving evidence of a similarity of costume with the time of painting. 

     

  3. 15 Jun


    Florencia. Manuel Benedito Vives (Spanish, 1875-1963). Disciple of Joaquín Sorolla, he enrolled in the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia in 1888, where he studied under the tutelage of Salva y Vilá. In 1894 he entered Sorolla’s workshop, and in 1896 they travelled together to Madrid, where he produced the illustrations for the Revista Moderna and Blanco y Negro magazines. 

    Florencia. Manuel Benedito Vives (Spanish, 1875-1963).

    Disciple of Joaquín Sorolla, he enrolled in the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia in 1888, where he studied under the tutelage of Salva y Vilá. In 1894 he entered Sorolla’s workshop, and in 1896 they travelled together to Madrid, where he produced the illustrations for the Revista Moderna and Blanco y Negro magazines. 

     

  4. 10 Jun


    Portrait of Rosalind Russell. Nicolai Fechin (Russian-American, 1881-1955). Oil on canvas. Acquired directly from the artist by Mary Pickford. Fechin is primarily a portrait painter whose startling renditions of his subjects’ clothes and backdrops seem to point the way toward Abstract Expressionism. His work can be fresh, rough, eccentric, adventurous. It can also, in its later phases, verge on the trite.

    Portrait of Rosalind Russell. Nicolai Fechin (Russian-American, 1881-1955). Oil on canvas. Acquired directly from the artist by Mary Pickford.

    Fechin is primarily a portrait painter whose startling renditions of his subjects’ clothes and backdrops seem to point the way toward Abstract Expressionism. His work can be fresh, rough, eccentric, adventurous. It can also, in its later phases, verge on the trite.

     

  5. 10 Jun


    A Compelling Portrait (1886). Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje (Netherlands, 1829-1895/1908) . Oil on canvas. Portielje’s oeuvre includes portraits, scenes of elegant ladies in garden or park, or in luxurious interiors. The interiors are either heavy or neo-baroque elegant. His painting is realistic with an eye for detail and texture display.

    A Compelling Portrait (1886). Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje (Netherlands, 1829-1895/1908) . Oil on canvas.

    Portielje’s oeuvre includes portraits, scenes of elegant ladies in garden or park, or in luxurious interiors. The interiors are either heavy or neo-baroque elegant. His painting is realistic with an eye for detail and texture display.

     

  6. 10 Jun


    Lady In Her Boudoir (1889). Julius LeBlanc Stewart (American, 1855-1919). Oil on canvas. Stewart’s father, the sugar millionaire William Hood Stewart, moved the family to Paris in 1865, and became a distinguished art collector and an early patron of Fortuny and the Barbizon artists. Julius studied under Eduardo Zamacois as a teenager, under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts, and later was a pupil of Raymondo de Madrazo.

    Lady In Her Boudoir (1889). Julius LeBlanc Stewart (American, 1855-1919). Oil on canvas.

    Stewart’s father, the sugar millionaire William Hood Stewart, moved the family to Paris in 1865, and became a distinguished art collector and an early patron of Fortuny and the Barbizon artists. Julius studied under Eduardo Zamacois as a teenager, under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts, and later was a pupil of Raymondo de Madrazo.

     

  7. 9 Jun


    Full-length portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour (between 1748 and 1755). Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704–1788). Pastel on gray-blue paper with gouache highlights; the face is cut out and mounted on the paper. Louvre Museum. The marquise is seated in a collector’s cabinet. The sumptuousness of her clothing shows a tendency to ostentation, while the absence of jewelry and the simplicity of her coiffure underscore the portrait’s personal nature. She is shown as a protector of the arts, surrounded by attributes symbolizing literature, music, astronomy and engraving.

    Full-length portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour (between 1748 and 1755). Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704–1788). Pastel on gray-blue paper with gouache highlights; the face is cut out and mounted on the paper. Louvre Museum.

    The marquise is seated in a collector’s cabinet. The sumptuousness of her clothing shows a tendency to ostentation, while the absence of jewelry and the simplicity of her coiffure underscore the portrait’s personal nature. She is shown as a protector of the arts, surrounded by attributes symbolizing literature, music, astronomy and engraving.

     

  8. 9 Jun


    Mary Hopkinson (c.1764). Benjamin West (American, 1738-1820). Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Mary Hopkinson was the wife of Dr. John Morgan, chief surgeon of the Continental army and founder of the Penn Medical School. West painted from a miniature of Mary brought to London. The mandolin was a fashionable instrument for aristocratic ladies. She wears a lavish pink satin gown with a sable collar and pearls. This outfit was not typical dress for colonial women, but was invented by West to conjure 18th-century European tastes for all things related to the Orient.

    Mary Hopkinson (c.1764). Benjamin West (American, 1738-1820). Oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum.

    Mary Hopkinson was the wife of Dr. John Morgan, chief surgeon of the Continental army and founder of the Penn Medical School. West painted from a miniature of Mary brought to London. The mandolin was a fashionable instrument for aristocratic ladies. She wears a lavish pink satin gown with a sable collar and pearls. This outfit was not typical dress for colonial women, but was invented by West to conjure 18th-century European tastes for all things related to the Orient.

     

  9. 8 Jun


    Study of a Girl in Red (1717). Benedetto Luti (Italian, 1666–1724). Pastel and chalk on blue laid paper, laid down on paste paper. MMOA. The sultry young model in red, her dark blond hair touched with butter-colored highlights, holds a picture or a mirror. With her direct glance, she is an unusually bold female type for Luti. Girl in Red and that of the boy in a blue jacket form a contrasting pair that must always have been together. Each is dated 1717 and inscribed in a style that is characteristic of Luti on the original backing. 

    Study of a Girl in Red (1717). Benedetto Luti (Italian, 1666–1724). Pastel and chalk on blue laid paper, laid down on paste paper. MMOA.

    The sultry young model in red, her dark blond hair touched with butter-colored highlights, holds a picture or a mirror. With her direct glance, she is an unusually bold female type for Luti. Girl in Red and that of the boy in a blue jacket form a contrasting pair that must always have been together. Each is dated 1717 and inscribed in a style that is characteristic of Luti on the original backing. 

     

  10. 8 Jun


    Francis Basset, 1st Baron of Dunstanville (1778). Pompeo Batoni (Italian, 1708-1787). Oil on canvas. Museo National del Prado. The writer, politician and future Baron of Dunstanville, Francis Basset (1757-1835), appears full-length, leaning on a pedestal alongside the remains of classical ruins, with plans in his right hand. Visible in the background to the right is the Roman architecture of Saint Peter’s at the Vatican, and to the left, the Castel Sant’Angelo. This portrait was painted during Basset’s trip to Italy as a young man on a stop in his Grand Tour.

    Francis Basset, 1st Baron of Dunstanville (1778). Pompeo Batoni (Italian, 1708-1787). Oil on canvas. Museo National del Prado.

    The writer, politician and future Baron of Dunstanville, Francis Basset (1757-1835), appears full-length, leaning on a pedestal alongside the remains of classical ruins, with plans in his right hand. Visible in the background to the right is the Roman architecture of Saint Peter’s at the Vatican, and to the left, the Castel Sant’Angelo. This portrait was painted during Basset’s trip to Italy as a young man on a stop in his Grand Tour.

     

  11. 8 Jun


    Portrait of Vera Mukhina (1940). Mikhail Nesterov (Russian, 1862-1942). Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery. In the ‘Soviet’ period of his creative work Nesterov painted portraits, mostly of his colleagues, such as this of Mukhina.  Muchina (1889-1953), a Russian sculptor, is depicting Boreas - the God of the North Wind, a memorial to Arctic researchers.

    Portrait of Vera Mukhina (1940). Mikhail Nesterov (Russian, 1862-1942). Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery.

    In the ‘Soviet’ period of his creative work Nesterov painted portraits, mostly of his colleagues, such as this of Mukhina. 

    Muchina (1889-1953), a Russian sculptor, is depicting Boreas - the God of the North Wind, a memorial to Arctic researchers.

     

  12. 7 Jun


    The Ladies Waldegrave (1780). Joshua Reynolds (English, Rococo, 1723-1792). Oil on canvas. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, UK. Reynolds was particularly skilled at choosing poses and actions which suggested a sitter’s character and which also created a strong composition. Here, three sisters, the daughters of the 2nd Earl Waldegrave, are shown collaboratively working on a piece of needlework. The joint activity links the sisters together.

    The Ladies Waldegrave (1780). Joshua Reynolds (English, Rococo, 1723-1792). Oil on canvas. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, UK.

    Reynolds was particularly skilled at choosing poses and actions which suggested a sitter’s character and which also created a strong composition. Here, three sisters, the daughters of the 2nd Earl Waldegrave, are shown collaboratively working on a piece of needlework. The joint activity links the sisters together.

     

  13. 6 Jun


    Mrs. Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes (Edith Minturn), 1898. Cecilia Beaux (American, 1855-1942). Oil on canvas. Exquisitely dressed, Edith is seated with a small volume in hand-finger marking the place-just as if she might have been disturbed while reading and was determined to continue at the passage she had last left. This small detail gives some insight into the brilliant mind and the depth of the sitter. Edith would have been one of these women that subscribed to the adage- “Beauty is but skin deep.”

    Mrs. Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes (Edith Minturn), 1898. Cecilia Beaux (American, 1855-1942). Oil on canvas.

    Exquisitely dressed, Edith is seated with a small volume in hand-finger marking the place-just as if she might have been disturbed while reading and was determined to continue at the passage she had last left. This small detail gives some insight into the brilliant mind and the depth of the sitter. Edith would have been one of these women that subscribed to the adage- “Beauty is but skin deep.”

     

  14. 5 Jun


    Jeune Fille vue de dos. Jean Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725-1805). Oil on canvas. Greuze’s pretentiously moralizing rustic dramas constituted a reaction against rococo frivolity in art; by appealing to emotion they were also a revolt against the emphasis placed upon reason and science by the philosophers of the Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that pervaded the first half of the 18th century. 

    Jeune Fille vue de dos. Jean Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725-1805). Oil on canvas.

    Greuze’s pretentiously moralizing rustic dramas constituted a reaction against rococo frivolity in art; by appealing to emotion they were also a revolt against the emphasis placed upon reason and science by the philosophers of the Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that pervaded the first half of the 18th century. 

     

  15. 3 Jun


    Portrait of a Young Woman (1862). Edward Harrison May (English, 1824-1887). Oil on canvas mounted on fiberboard. Smithsonian American Art Museum. May used soft brushstrokes and muted colors to emphasize the woman’s dreamy expression. Her tilted head, wide eyes, and slightly parted lips create an idealized image that is both classical and melancholy. Her dark hair and rich green dress emphasize the porcelain skin of her bare throat, reinforcing the 19th-century idea of women as fragile creatures.

    Portrait of a Young Woman (1862). Edward Harrison May (English, 1824-1887). Oil on canvas mounted on fiberboard. Smithsonian American Art Museum.

    May used soft brushstrokes and muted colors to emphasize the woman’s dreamy expression. Her tilted head, wide eyes, and slightly parted lips create an idealized image that is both classical and melancholy. Her dark hair and rich green dress emphasize the porcelain skin of her bare throat, reinforcing the 19th-century idea of women as fragile creatures.