‘Powerful People’ Depicted In Portraiture

Metropolitan Museum of Art Lecturer Nancy Posternak gave a presentation entitled “Powerful People” in the North Shore Towers Country Club on Monday, April 14, specifically focusing on how such people were portrayed through portraits.
“Through most of the history of art the people who had their portraits done were not every day people. They were really the powerful people,” Posternak said. “It was really only until the 19th century with photography that everyday people started to have portraits done of themselves.”
Using slides to show some of the examples, Posternak shared a mask carved out of marble of Queen Idia from the 16th century. When her son was king, he had it made to commemorate what an important person she was in his life.
“It’s a lovely example of an African mask,” Posternak said. “When the king wore this as he did, it was almost like wearing a crown if you were a European king.”
Posternak also showed several painted portraits, including Francesco de Goya’s oil on canvas of four-year-old Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga. She spoke about the melancholy expression on the boy’s face and said that one theory as to why this is the case is that Goya painted it following the boy’s death.
An important figure of the 15th century who was depicted in portraiture was Yongle, who was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China. It was done on silk with watercolor and ink.
“He clearly understood how to create interest in a painting by giving us contrast of big, bold colors and softer, delicate colors,” Pasternak said.
Posternak also spoke about August Renoir’s “Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children.” At the time it was painted, Posternak said impressionistic paintings were not allowed to be shown in official salons. However, Charpentier used her influence to get it displayed prominently nonetheless.
When John Singer Sargent painted “Madame X,” which was of Madame Gautreau, Posternak said that it caused a stir because one of the dress straps was painted dangling down from the shoulder. While it was being displayed at a gallery, Posternak said that Gautreau begged Sargent to remove it but he refused to do so.
Posternak also spoke about self-portraits, beginning by showing one Rembrandt did of himself in 1660.
“Rembrandt was really the first artist who uses himself as the subject of his paintings throughout his life,” she said.
Posternak said that he did more than 100 self-portraits, which she described as being like his autobiography.
Also included in the presentation was Vincent Van Gogh.
“It’s an equally powerful portrait,” Posternak said. “You get a real sense of Van Gogh and the intensity of Van Gogh.”
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