Monday, July 16, 2012

Molti Ritratti: Aline Masson by Madrazo


Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta (1841-1920), son of the artist Frederico de Madrazo (1815-94), although a Spaniard, was born in Rome and spent much of his career in France. Biographical information about him on the Internet is sparse: his Wikipedia entry in English says almost nothing, though his Spanish entry is better.

Madrazo was no third-rater, so far as Spaniards are concerned; the Prado museum in Madrid has a room devoted to his work. I'll try to get around to showing more varied examples later, but for now I'll focus on paintings he made of what seems to have been of his favorite model, Aline Masson.

I find it somewhat interesting that we know Aline by name, because many models used by famous artists are anonymous, such as those I wrote about here.

Let's take a look Mlle. Masson as seen by Madrazo.

Gallery

La modelo Aline Masson

Aline Masson in Blue

Aline Masson in a White Mantilla

Aline fixing a hat

Aline Masson Leaning Against a Sofa

Woman in white and pink

The Love Letter

1 comment:

mike shupp said...

Odd... her forearms seem a bit short in most of those pictures. Otherwise, I note approvingly that Madrazo's given her different appearances in different paintings, rather than simply copying the same pose.

My favorite of this lot is Aline Masson Leaning Against a Sofa, but I have to admire the cleverness of the second painting, Aline Masson Checking Her Email.