Doña Isabel de Porcel by Francisco de Goya, before 1805 (National Gallery)
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Mary Freer by John Constable, 1809 (National Portrait Gallery current exhibition)
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Mary Freer by John Constable, 1809 (National Portrait Gallery current exhibition)
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3 comments:
What a great comparison these two make. The dates are so close and there are certainly some interesting similarities and yet they also seem worlds apart. In purely tonal terms, one is almost a negative of the other. The contrast in the direction of the sitters' gazes is perhaps the most important difference. The direct, confident, intelligent but modest gaze of Mary Freer is in sharp contrast to the haughty flamboyance of Goya's sitter. The body language is also very telling.
What do we know about these women? Who commissioned the portraits? Who might have been the primary audience? Are these paintings typical of the artists' oeuvre? How did woman artists of the period choose to portray themselves and other women? Great post!
Both of these women by the nature of the portraits are not in need of money but women's clothing change dramatically post French Revolution, although the evolution of fashion was not purely politically influenced. The expansion of the British Empire via the East India Company had a great effect upon the use of fabric. The lines achievable with the introduction of fine muslins and silks allowed drapery until this point not possible with the heavy woven silks typical of the French and British Courts (woven either in Lyons or Spitalfields). Thus as Mary Freer is dressed simply in Cotton Muslin - she is depicted as a pure, young woman; her hair is dressed quite naturally and the straw hat she holds has very little decoration all of which shows she has not been presented into society. By contrast Dona Isabel de Porcel is wearing a shawl of lace (highly prized and very costly)- this might be a piece owned by the artist but more likely the sitter's own. It is a large shawl, thus I would think the woman comes from a wealthy family, possibly 'Trade'? - the silk dress is not as influenced by the Grand Tour (so beloved of the truly educated young British Gentleman) but is much softer than that of the mid to late 18th Century especially with its use of muslin on the neckline. The colouring of Dona Porcel is also very unusual with her hair being almost blonde by comparison with most Spanish women so she may well have been considered a great beauty (though this might be a false friend - red-heads were not appreciated in Victorian Society until the Pr-Raphaelites showed the delicacy of their skin tones).
Culture V Nature?
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