I Got To See Her Perform A Few Times When I Lived In Chicago. This Is A Great Loss And She Will Be Missed.

DREW STARKEY AS EUGENE ALLERTON Queer (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino

Similar to Sargeant, I recognize a Boldini whenever I see one on my dash and feel the need to repost. This is the artist Whistler, or more formally James Abbott McNeill Whistler, painted by Giovanni Boldini in 1897.

One of my favorite portrait painters ever, Giovanni Boldini.

Boldini, Giovanni (1842-1931) - 1902 Portrait of the Artist Lawrence Alexander Harrison (Sotheby’s New York, 2004) by Milton Sonn

Oil on canvas; 126 x 101 cm.

Giovanni Boldini was an Italian genre and portrait painter, belonging to the Parisian school. According to a 1933 article in Time magazine, he was known as the “Master of Swish” because of his flowing style of painting.

Boldini was born in Ferrara, the son of a painter of religious subjects, and went to Florence in 1862 to study painting, meeting there the realist painters known as the Macchiaioli. Their influence is seen in Boldini’s landscapes which show his spontaneous response to nature, although it is for his portraits that he became best known. He attained great success in London as a portraitist.

From 1872 Boldini lived in Paris, where he became a friend of Edgar Degas. He also became the most fashionable portrait painter in Paris in the late 19th century, with a dashing style of painting which shows some Impressionist influence but which most closely resembles the work of his contemporaries John Singer Sargent and Paul Helleu. He was nominated commissioner of the Italian section of the Paris Exposition in 1889, and received the Légion d'honneur for this appointment. He died in Paris in 1931.

Portrait of David Lyon painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, circa 1825. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Spain.

John Singer Sargent

Following up on the last post, my mind turned, as it inevitably must, to Tom Hiddleston looking so handsome and moody.

William Morris Textiles circa 1880