#portraitmonday — Public Fediverse posts

"Girl in a Red Ruff," Pierre-Auguste Renoir, c. 1896.

One of the all-time great Impressionists, Renoir (1841-1919) was becoming disillusioned with Impressionism in the 1880s. He traveled in Italy, partly to visit museums and partly seeking relief from the rheumatoid arthritis that was hindering his life at the time. (He ended up moving to the Mediterranean coast of France, hoping the warm weather would help.)

He was profoundly influenced by Renaissance art, the Neoclassicists (especially Ingres), and the Rococo school, and sought to incorporate more of their style, rather than his usual thing. It didn't entirely last; he ended up re-incorporating some of his Impressionist stylings, but the influence remained. At this point in his life, most of his work involved women in various settings and costumes.

The unidentified woman here is all fresh rosy cheeks and dewy lips, with her hair demurely up in a bun. The white outfit and red ruff makes me wonder if she's meant to be a clown or commedia dell'arte character. She's got the formal posing of a Neoclassical painting, but the colors and warm lighting, and some of the blurred lines, of Renoir's best Impressionist work.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

#Art #PierreAugusteRenoir #Impressionism #Neoclassicism #WomenInArt #PortraitMonday

"Madame X," John Singer Sargent, 1884.

Y'all know Sargent by now.

It's funny that this picture, now sometimes called "the American Mona Lisa," almost ended Sargent's career. He pursued Paris socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, wanting to paint her, and it took almost a year to complete. Originally it featured a shoulder strap sliding off her shoulder, which, when combined with the lack of jewelry and gloves, and the gown's plunging neckline, was seen as too sexual and salacious; some thought it hinted at an affair between artist and subject. Not likely, Sargent was a very active gay man.

The New Orleans-born Gautreau was one of the great beauties of Parisian society, and was pursued by several portraitists. Although it's often said her reputation was ruined by this painting; it really wasn't as most of the backlash was directed at Sargent. She did become more choosy about which functions she would attend, and she had several more portraits done, one almost identical to this but was greeted only with praise.

Now it's regarded as one of the great classic works of American art!

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

#Art #JohnSingerSargent #AmericanArt #MadameX #PortraitMonday #Scandalous #WomenInArt

"Madame Desbassayns de Richemont and Her Son," Marie Benoist, 1802.

Benoist (1768-1826) was a French Neoclassical painter and portraitist, a student of the great portraitist Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, and also a protegee of Jacques-Louis David....to whom this portrait was mistakenly attributed for years.

She was one of a number of women artists in France just after the Revolution who exhibited to the public for the first time; before then exhibitions by women artists were rare. Benoist thrived in that environment, and one fame for her "Portrait of Madeleine," of a Black woman, the first time a Black woman had been portrayed as the aesthetic center of a Western work of art.

Jeanne Egle Fulcrand Catherine Mourgue married into the wealthy Desbassayns family, whose immense fortune came from sugar and coffee plantations on Reunion, in the Indian Ocean. There's a certain charm in her simple Empire dress and the curious toddler climbing into her lap.

Benoist sadly withdrew from the art world in 1814, at the height of her popularity, due to her husband's involvement in Royalist causes and the growing wave of conservatism in Europe of the time.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

#Art #PortraitMonday #MarieBenoist #Neoclassicism

"Self-Portrait with a Turban," Wallerant Vaillant, c.1650-60.

Vaillant (1623-77) was born in France, to a family of artists; he had four brothers who also all became painters. Wallerant is said to have taught all of his brothers to draw and paint, and they all settled in Amsterdam.

Vaillant was primarily a printmaker and engraver, and is thought to have developed the mezzotint style of printing, along with Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who he was tutoring. But he did turn out a small number of paintings, mostly portraits, including a series of self-portraits in various modes of dress.

Here we have him in a flamboyant red turban, echoing a similar self-portrait of Rembrandt. The fabric is richly printed and well-depicted; it's a very well-done portrait. I wonder about his expression, though....it seems a mixture of wariness and defiance, as if daring us to say something about the turban!

Happy Portrait Monday!

From a private collection.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #WallerantVaillant #Selfie #PortraitMonday #Turban