Portrait of Sonia
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 109.2 x 81 cm (43 x 31 7/8 in.) framed: 132.7 x 104.4 cm (52 1/4 x 41 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Chester Dale Collection
Accession Number
1963.10.145
Art Historical Context
Henri Fantin-Latour’s *Portrait of Sonia*, painted in 1890, offers a compelling example of late-nineteenth-century French portraiture. Executed in oil on canvas, the nearly life-size work measures 109.2 by 81 centimeters, allowing the artist to render his subject with careful attention to form and presence. Fantin-Latour, known for his restrained realism and sensitive handling of light, often focused on intimate depictions that reveal both the individuality and quiet dignity of his sitters. Created during the Belle Époque, a time of artistic transition between Realism and emerging modern move...
About the Artist
Henri Fantin-Latour · 1836–1904
Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born on January 14, 1836, in Grenoble, France, to portrait painter Théodore Fantin-Latour, who gave him his earliest drawing lessons. The family relocated to Paris in 1841, where in 1850, at age 14, he enrolled in the École de Dessin, studying under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose innovative memory-based method of drawing from observation profoundly ...