Xue Mo

"Seated Nude"

2004

Ashley John is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) Gershon Benjamin is a painter of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene. He had a pro...

Signed LR Born in Inner Mongolia Xue's approach to the genre of portraiture is unique: situating Asian subjects in a highly stylised manner that is reminiscent, both technically and...

Maurice Newman was active/lived in Massachusetts / Lithuania. Maurice Newman is known for sculpture-abstraction, impressionist landscape painting, diorama. Born in Lithuania, Mauric...

Oil on canvas Image size: 22 x 20 inches (22.75 x 51 cm) Pierced gilt frame This half-length portrait shows the sitter with her head and eyes looking over her shoulder, to the right. She is dressed in a delicate blue dress and blue shawl with her hair tied up away from her face. The composition of the painting is simple but effective; the woman stands out and is the undeniable focus of the viewer's attention. George Romney's artistic style is characterised by its focus on the beauty and elegance of human forms. Here, one can appreciate his ability to capture the delicacy of facial features and the soft textures of clothing. In addition, Romney has used a soft and diffuse brushstroke technique that creates a light and soft effect in the work. The dark and diffused background highlights the young woman's figure even more, creating an effect of depth and realism. It is possible that this sitter is Miss Anne Dutton. George Romney Romney was a fashionable portrait painter of late 18th-century English society. In his portraits Romney avoided delving into the character or sensibilities of the sitter. His great success with his society patrons depended largely on just this ability for dispassionate flattery. Line rather than colour dominates; the flowing rhythms and easy poses of Roman classical sculpture underlie the smooth patterns of his compositions. From 1755 to 1757 Romney was the pupil of Christopher Steele, an itinerant portrait and genre painter. Romney’s career began when he toured the northern English counties painting portraits for a few guineas each. In 1762 he went to London. His history painting The Death of General Wolfe won him an award from the Society of Arts; nonetheless he turned almost immediately to portrait painting. In 1764 he paid his first visit to Paris, where he was befriended by Joseph Vernet. Romney especially admired the work of Nicolas Le Sueur, whose use of the antique strongly appealed to him. In 1773 he went to Italy for two years, where he studied Raphael’s Stanze frescoes in Rome, Titian’s paintings...