Friday, February 27, 2009

Sophie Anderson - The Lace Handkerchief


oil on canvas
not dated but probably late 1850's - early 1860's.
The model is probably the daughter of the artist and the same as appears in her famous No Walk Today. Characteristically she has used dark colours in the background to highlight the lit face. Elements are minutely detailed which she tended away from later.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the painting. My eyes were drawn right to the chair with all its carvings, and then to that little table off to the side. The details throughout are wonderful.

Hermes said...

Its very Pre Raphaelite in its use of detail and sharp colours though I doubt Ruskin would have liked the subject. But the work she did on the details like the dress is just mind boggling to me anyway.

Anonymous said...

Interesting with all that detail that the title is "The Lace Handkerchief," that small piece of fabric in her hand.

Hermes said...

David,

I think it was originally a small joke. It was also called something like 'Helping Mama' and she was unpicking the lace or something like that.