A Collection of Women Portraits with High Fashion

Gallery 490

A Collection of Women Portraits with High Fashion

This gallery includes a variety of portraits of women of high society in their time and cultures. It includes artists such as John Singer Sargent to Giovanni Battista Gaulli. The focus is to highlight the portraits figures’ body position, attire, body language, and to emphasize femininity. All the women depicted were known for their beauty and how they carried themselves in their everyday life, which caught the eye of each of the artists who painted them. In their time, those who viewed the paintings knew the women for their attributes to their communities. When walking through the gallery the audience can admire each of the styles the women had and compare them. This gallery is a testament to the ability of each artist to capture on canvas the personalities and beauty of their models who were highly respected in their cities and social rank. 

Madame X, John Singer Sargent, 1883-84, Oil on canvas, 16.53

Madame Pierre Gautreau (the Louisiana-born Virginie Amélie Avegno; 1859–1915) was the American wife of a French banker. He took his time to create what he thought was his best portrait, beautifully depicting Madame Gautreau in this life size painting, yet it had an opposite effect on French society. Upon its reveal at the Son of 1884, the portrait caused a scandalous reaction from depicting the right strap of her dress slipping from her shoulder. Sargent moved to England to escape from the ridicule, he repainted the shoulder strap, and kept the work for over thirty years. Finally, he sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in January of 1916.

Judith Gautier, John Singer Sargent, 1885, Oil on panel

Sinologist who translated Chinese and Japanese texts, Judith Gautier (1845–1917) was very involved in French literary and artistic circles. Gautier knew Sargent from writing reviews of his works at the Salon. She described him as an artist who is completely aware of his artistic personality. Sargent admired composer Richard Wagner whom was the man Gautrier had an affair with soon after her separation with her former husband. Sargent produced a series of paintings of Judith Gautrier and later presented them as gifts. This specific portrait of Gautrier presents her wearing her a white robe and standing alongside her piano in a dark interior that highlights her great beauty.

Mrs. Hugh Hammersley, John Singer Sargent, 1892, Oil on canvas, 1998.365

Mary Frances Hammersley (1863–1911) was a notable patron of the arts who consistently was up to date with contemporary British art. In her London home, she was the center for a vast range of artists and writers to gather while promoting the careers of several artists. Exhibited in 1893, at the New Gallery, London, this portrait helped promote Sargent and enter him into the British art scene. Sargent captures Hammersley's personality in her pose and her brilliant velvet dress.

Portrait of a Woman, Bernhard Strigel, 1510-15, Oil on linden, 71.34

In the early sixteenth century, Bernhard Strigel produced many portraits of women in extravagant costumes positioned before an open window view out to a landscape out to a town. The woman in this portrait has not been identified, but she is known for her elaborate clothing. Many art historians have  concluded that her gown must have been created from imported fabrics which include elaborate embroideries. The fabrics and flamboyant jewelry must mean she is among the elite of society.

Portrait of a Woman, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (II Baciccio), 1670s, Oil on canvas, 2014.277

Influenced by his mentor, the great sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), Gaulli sketched and painted his sitters to capture the quality of a living presence. Gaulli is known for his masterpieces of outstanding illusionistic ceilings, and in the second half of the seventeenth century Gaulli was considered the most esteemed portrait painter in Rome. The woman in the painting is in side profile while glancing at the viewer with a seductive smile. She has dark curly hair and coyly toys with the with mounted string of pearls that ornament her dress.

Portrait of a Lady, Lawrence Kilburn (or Kilbrunn), 1764, Oil on canvas, 2002.259

From London, Kilburn moved to New York in 1754 and became a well known portraits there for twenty years. As depicted in the painting, he lured his clients by offering them original gifts, such as the miniature portrait the young lady wears as a charm on a bracelet on her wrist, and this is a common traditional English-style portrait. In this portrait of a young lady, Kilburn focused on detail. He captured a strong sense of colonial New York City with how he painted the look of the  fabric and her jewelry.