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Portraits

  • Vikki Griffin

Vikki Griffin

•5 min read
British, Bristol 1769–1830 London / The Met

    The Irish actress Elizabeth Farren made her London debut in 1777 and soon became one of the most popular comic performers of the day.
    This portrait depicts her as an elegant young woman at the height of her career, before she retired from the stage to marry her aristocratic protector.

By the Seashore

French, Limoges 1841–1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer / The Met

    Renoir likely painted this work in his studio, posing his model in a wicker chair and relying on studies he had made on the Normandy coast to furnish the beach scene behind her.
    Stylistically, it reflects the impact of Renoir's trip to Italy in 1881 - 82, which inspired him to unite the "grandeur and simplicity" he admired in Renaissance art with the luminosity of Impressionism.
    His new approach, which he called his "dry" manner, is evident in the sitter's face, with its carefully drawn features and smooth handling of paint.

Saint Philip Neri (1515–1595)

Italian, Florence 1616–1687 Florence / The Met

    In an inscription, the artist records that he began this posthumous portrait on May 26, Saint Philip Neri's feast day, and completed it eight days later for the church of San Firenze in Florence, adding, "I Carlo Dolci, painted the present image . . . [beginning] the first day of my thirtieth year 1645 [or 1646]."
    Since Neri, a great spiritual leader and founder of the Oratorians, had died fifty years previously, Dolci must have used a death mask to achieve the astonishing quality of physical presence.

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