Some people enjoy loose freely painted artwork, while others appreciate the more detail-oriented,
academic style of painting. This painting features both, and both are done with an expert hand.
I've been looking forward to featuring this piece
for quite a while because it's such a special painting especially when you see it up close.
I came across it when I was visiting the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia.
It's an oil painting by Franz Winterhalter, a German-born artist from the 19th century.
Winterhalter was born to peasants in the Black Forest region of Germany in 1805,
but his talents would eventually lead him to become one of the most sought-after
court painters in Europe during his time. He was particularly known for his skill in
painting fabrics, but he was also appreciated for his ability to portray his sitters in a
flattering light; basically, he made them look good which appealed to his clients.
In the case of this painting, to me, it's not about the individual's particular beauty,
although she is pretty. Rather, it's about the beauty of the brushwork and
the contrast between the smooth, academic style and the exciting bravera brushstrokes.
For example, look at the lovely smooth transitions in the skin tones as compared to the exciting
broken strokes of the fabric in the dress. Look at all these wonderful marks and note that the
dress consists of varying degrees of transparency and opacity as well as the dilution of the paint.
For example, right here you can see how transparent this area is.
You can see some of the wall color through the strokes. And then we can see the slow build up of
the layers, each getting a little more opaque and increasing in paint thickness as well. Much of it
applied with confident single-stroke applications. In this spot, it appears even more obvious that
the paint was thinned with solvent. Can you see the texture in the paint?
He painted the bracelet with what looks like three strokes; one, two, three. Beautifully done.
And then he applies some opaque medium-darks. They were later marks. you can tell,
but not the last because we can see that this light overlaps this dark.
Let's look at another spot. Here we see more of the bravera work. Look at these quickly
applied darks; individual strokes. Again, you have the transparent and the opaque work.
You can see his brush moving, can't you? Right here.
And then there's this large area of opaque - off-white; thickly applied. It's pretty impasto.
Here's another part of the dress. Look at the energy in this area, and the strokes
are pretty directional here too. Much of it being stroked downward; seemingly, varying
combinations of the same colors: violet-gray plus white. At least that's how it looks to me.
One more spot. Look at the smooth transitions in the skin tone. Again,
seamless. And that in contrast to the energetic movements in the fabric. I just love it!
Look at these little dense white marks here. They imply her pearl necklace. So simple. And
here we can see some of the background. You can see that that was painted first and then
the dress was painted after. See how the color visually overlaps the background along the edge?
Even at a distance you can see the contrast in brushwork - the background playing along
with the smoothness of the skin. The main color in the piece is saved
for her cheeks, her lips, the flowers in her hair, and even her hair itself.
Beautiful, subtle, feminine coloring that's minimal enough to stand as a gentle focal point in
the piece, after the stunning whites, of course. The beautiful neutrals just act as a support.
To better understand the values of those neutrals let's see what the piece would look like if we
changed the color in the background. You can see it definitely changes the feeling of the piece.
And what if we change the wall color in the gallery? That, too,
changes the feeling. All of these elements play a part in how we see and experience the painting.
It's not a hyper-colorful painting but that's part of the beauty. The
more neutral colors keep the viewer's eye on the values and the brush action.
In fact, in my opinion, he shines when it comes to the use of a neutral palette,
as we see in this painting as well. This one has a similar color scheme and a similar beauty although
not quite as special as the first one. But he does paint colorful paintings,
too. Look at this beautiful piece and note the unusual palette. It's a combination of colors
you don't normally see. It gives his work a uniqueness; its own flavor. Whether observing
colors or brush work, Winterhalter makes the process of painting appear effortless.