"Portrait of a Young Man," Agnolo Bronzino, 1530s.

Bronzino (1503-72) was one of the greats of the Italian Mannerist style, which featured exaggerated proportions, asymmetrical arrangements, and a sort of unnatural elegance.

His best-known works are his portraits and some of his allegorical or religious works, some of which scholars are still arguing about centuries later; he never made things particularly clear.

This is one of his more naturalistic works. The young man, unidentified, stands with his finger in a book; experts believe it to be a book of poetry. He seems almost annoyed, as if we're interrupting his reading. One of his eyes is out of alignment as well, an interesting little detail.

The painting tells us more about the man's status than anything else; he's obviously wealthy, and perhaps a bit full of himself. But the presence of several masklike faces here and there, including the folds of his clothes, seem to hint that his own demeanor is a mask.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

#Art #AgnoloBronzino #Mannerism #PortraitMonday

"Spring," Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1563.

Arcimboldo (1527-93) is an Italian Mannerist painter best known for his surreal still lifes that form faces. These are felt today to be mostly novelties meant to amuse, but they're the work that has survived.

Very little of his more conventional work has been found, and most of it is, well, very conventional. Unremarkable, even. He saved all his creative energy for things like this.

Honestly, I'd like to give him credit for being a surrealist before surrealism was a thing. Here we have Spring, a woman made up completely of flowers and leaves, with lips of rose petals. What could be more appropriate?

It seems more suited for Flower Friday than Portrait Monday, but heck, it's a portrait of a season, isn't it?

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid.

#Art #Mannerism #GiuseppeArcimboldo #PortraitMonday #ProtoSurrealism #Spring

"Hearts are Trumps," John Everett Millais, 1872.

Millais (1829-1896) was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite school, & one of its most praised & successful members, getting many society commissions & earning a knighthood.

Starting in the 1850s, though, he began moving away from strict Pre-Raphaelism to a more Realist style, which caused some of his old crowd to view him as a sellout. But today it's seen as a natural evolution of his style, & his own refusal to be corralled by a particular school. Some feel his marriage to Euphemia, the former wife of art critic John Ruskin, a champion of the Pre-Raphaelites, had something to do with it; Effie had received an annulment on the grounds that her marriage had never been consummated. Millais was said to be very uneasy around Ruskin after that.

The women here are the three daughters of writer and collector Walter Armstrong, who was hoping to bump up his family's social status. The pose of the three women at cards is seen as a hint of a competition to marry. Of note is that Mary, to the right and looking out at us knowingly (with the King and Jack of hearts in her hand) married an Irish politician a few years after this was painted.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Tate Britain, London.

#Art #PreRaphaelite #JohnEverettMillais #PortraitMonday #WomenInArt

"Titus van Rijn, the Artist's Son, Reading," Rembrandt van Rijn, 1656/7.

What can I say about Rembrandt (1606-69), other than he's one of the most recognizable names in art? A painter and printmaker, he pretty much defines the Dutch Golden Age. But unlike may other artists of the period, he didn't specialize.

Unlike, say, our friend Rachel Ruysch, who specialized in flowers, Rembrandt did all sorts of genres. Portraits, historic, religious, landscapes, mythical scenes, animals...he was all over the artistic map. Some of his work courted controversy; a painting of Bathsheba created a furor as everyone knew the nude Bathsheba was Rembrandt's mistress. He also had persistent financial troubles that led to him being ruled incompetent and his affairs managed by his son.

Titus van Rijn (1641-68) was the only child by Rembrandt's wife Saskia to live to adulthood. He was a frequent model for his father, and his death at 26 was a sad blow. Here he is, absorbed in a book, and looking like the apple of his father's eye.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

#Art #DutchGoldenAge #Rembrandt #PortraitMonday #TitusVanRijn

"Portrait of a Man with Hibiscus Flower (Félix)," Glyn Philpot, 1932.

Philpot (1884-1937) was an English painter known mostly for his portraits. Early in his career he was very Realist, and very similar to John Singer Sargent. Like Sargent, he had a good income from his portraits, which gave him room to travel and experiment artistically.

Late in his life, as we see here, he began to experiment with Modernism. Philpot, although a typical British white guy, began to be noted for his portraits of Black people, and how he portrayed them with dignity and sensitivity.

At this point in his career, his work was also expressing the conflict between his devout Catholicism and his own homosexuality. Philpot had a longtime partnership with another artist, Vivian Forbes, which ended a few years before Philpot's passing, from a stroke.

The identity of the sitter here is unknown; all that is known is his first name, Félix.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From a private collection

#Art #PortraitMonday #GlynPhilpot #QueerHistory #LGBTQ

"Martin, a Terrier," Rosa Bonheur, 1879.

French painter Bonheur (1822-99) was a daring woman in many ways. Her personal life courted controversy; she dressed in men's clothing and openly had love affairs with other women, at a time when such things could get one arrested. She insisted on being educated and trained as an artist at a time when that route was not open to women. And she insisted on painting animals when everyone else was doing classical human figures.

It was her devotion to her animal art that really paved the way for her in a society that might not otherwise approve. When other artists would use animals in a symbolic or satirical sense, or be overly melodramatic or sentimental, Bonheur depicted animals the way other portraitists depicted people; she strove to communicate their soul to the viewer.

It's unknown who commissioned this painting, but evidently it was a fairly wealthy person who wanted a depiction of a faithful hunting dog. Martin is realistically and meticulously rendered, and she shows his intent, yet soulful expression without resorting to mush.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From a private collection.

#Art #RosaBonheur #WomenArtists #QueerHistory #LGBTQArtists #PortraitMonday #Terrier #DogsOfMastodon

"Girl in a Pink Dress," Laura Wheeler Waring, 1927.

Waring (1887-1948) was THE great portrait artist of the Harlem Renaissance. Her depictions of major figures in Black history make her worthy of study.

Here we have a portrait of an unidentified young Black woman in a stylist 20s dress, with a stylish 20s hairdo. This is a young lady of fashion, very up-to-the-minute.

But also, her youth, the choice of pink for her dress, and the corsage at her shoulder...this hints at blossoming and young vitality. "Here," Wheeler may be saying, "is the future of Black America, just coming into blossom!"

I've talked about Waring before, including her many portraits and her years teaching, so I won't go into her life story. But I just love this portrait of a young, vital, serene woman, waiting to take on the world.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From a private collection.

#Art #LauraWheelerWaring #WomenArtists #WomenInArt #BlackHistoryMonth #PortraitMonday #HarlemRenaissance #YouthInBlossom #FutureOfAmerica

"Portrait of a Young Woman," Antonio or Piero del Pollaiolo, c. 1470.

One could say "Antonio and/or Piero" as it's unknown which of them painted this, or if the two worked together.

Antonio (C. 1429 or 33 - 1498) and Piero (C. 1443 - C. 1496) were brothers who worked together and shared a studio in Florence, and frequently collaborated on works. In fact, it's become so difficult to tell which did what, or if they worked together, that many works are just attributed to "the Pollaiolo Brothers." Neither was known to sign their works very often.

Antonio, the older by a decade, was also a sculptor and goldsmith; Piero was known only for his painting. Their father was a wealthy poultry merchant, hence their adopted name, a sort of joke as "pollaiolo" means "chicken coop" in Italian.

The identity of the sitter is unknown, although she's obviously from a wealthy family, what with the fancy hairdo and the jewelry. It's thought that this was an engagement portrait, as pearls often symbolize purity and rubies love, and the sitter's obvious youth makes the concept seem likely.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan.

#Art #PollaioloBrothers #Renaissance #WomenInArt #PortraitMonday

"Portrait of the Artist's Mother," Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1897.

Tanner (1859-1937) was the first Black American artist to win international fame and acclaim, & they were well-deserved.

The son of an AME bishop, Tanner was born & raised in Pittsburgh. He received artistic education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he was trained by Thomas Eakins, & worked with Robert Henri, a founder of the Ashcan School of painting, as well as others, who all remained his lifelong friends.

Finding racism and prejudice at home in the US, Tanner moved to Europe where he found acceptance, & where he lived the rest of his life, except for a few visits home.

Sarah Elizabeth Tanner (1840-1914) was born in Winchester, VA, but details of her early life are unclear; she may have been born to free people, or born into slavery and escaped via the Underground Railroad. She did become a respected missionary and religious worker, and raised seven children who all became successes in one way or another.

The portrait seems a riff on Whistler's famous painting of his mother, but here Tanner presents a warmer tone, although to me she looks sad.

Happy Portrait Monday, and Happy Black History Month!

#Art #HenryOssawaTanner #PortraitMonday #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackArtists #WomenInArt #AmericanRealism

"Luis E. Pombo," Guillermo Laborde, c. 1928.

Laborde (1886-1940) was an Uruguayan Modernist painter who was a founder of Planismo, a style of painting popular in Uruguay and other parts of Latin America in the 20s and 30s.

Planismo is a style that emphasizes sharp angular lines, little shading, brilliant colors, and a focus on everyday life and the Uruguayan landscape. Here, in what is regarded as one of the best-ever examples of planismo, he paints a portrait of his friend, the art critic and author Luis Eduardo Pombo (1900-1976).

Planismo wasn't widely accepted at first, but became eagerly accepted as a uniquely Uruguayan style and a source of national identity. I've seen a lot of this in my travels through the art world. Many times artists have developed a style, or subject matter, that they want to make a point of national pride, to make something not only that they can take pride in, but also something uniquely of their country. I sometimes think of this as ripples of the Romantic movement, which could be very nationalistic.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From the Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo.

#Art #GuillermoLaborde #Modernism #Planismo #LuisEduardoPombo #PortraitMonday #Uruguay #LatinAmericanArt