Portrait of a Boy
1886
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
176 × 120.7 cm (68 × 47 1/2 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
2823
Art Historical Context
Eugène Carrière's *Portrait of a Boy*1886) is a striking oil on canvas measuring 176 × 120.7 cm, now housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Painting and Sculpture of. Painted during the late 19th century in France, this large-scale work captures the Symbolist artist's signature approach to portraiture, emphasizing emotional depth over sharp realism. Carrière, a master of intimate family scenes, often depicted children with a tender, dreamlike quality that reflected the era's fascination with psychology and the inner life. The oil medium allowed Carrière to employ his innovativ...
About the Artist
Eugène Carrière
Eugène Carrière (1849–1906) was a French painter whose deeply personal and atmospheric canvases made him one of the most distinctive voices of the Symbolist generation. Born in Gournay-sur-Marne, Carrière trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Alexandre Cabanel, though he quickly moved beyond the academic conventions he encountered there, forging an intensely individual manner that owe...