Last Call: Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery, February 1st

John Singer Sargent, Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, 1892 

Oil on canvas 49 ½ x 39 ½ inches Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh 

© Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland

Acquired in 1925

Doesn't Lady Gertrude [nee Vernon] look delicious!  Better known as Lady Agnew, she was the wife of Lord Andrew, 9th Baronet of Lochnaw,who commissioned the portrait from one of the great society painters of the era.   John Singer Sargent, an "American" artist, was born in Florence in 1856 to an American couple, studied in Paris with Carolus-Duran, and traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East and the US.  His portraits capture the look and feel of  late 19th High Society (equal to those created in prose by his pal Henry James): at ease, in charge and rich - very rich.

Alas, Lady Agnew will leave us very soon.  The exhibition "Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery" closes on Sunday, February 1st.   To see the painted mauve sash alone is heaven. Worth venturing into the deep freeze for the last viewing.

And we mustn't forget the incomparable  El Greco, Velasquez, Ramsay and Reynolds paintings:

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos), An Allegory (Fábula), c. 1585–95
Oil on canvas 26 ½ x 35 inches Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
© Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland

Diego Velázquez, An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, 1618
Oil on canvas 39 ½ x 47 inches Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
© Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland

Allan Ramsay, Margaret Lindsay of Evelick, Mrs. Allan Ramsay, c. 1758–59 

Oil on canvas 29 ¼ x 24 ¼ inches Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh 

© Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland

Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Ladies Waldegrave, 1780–81

Oil on canvas 56 ¼ x 66 ¼ inches Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh 

© Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland

Here at the Frick, these masters of the bravura brush techniques inform the study of the Frick's own James McNeill Whistler portraits placed in the oval room outside the Scottish collection, and down the hall.  All the better to admire these "guests" with the local "residents."  

Sandro Botticelli, The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child, c. 1485 

Tempera, oil, and gold on canvas 48 x 31 ¾ inches 

Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

© Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland

In this crowd, Alessandro Botticelli's Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child and John Constable's landscape stand out as consummate examples of controlled delicacy and precision.

John Constable, The Vale of Dedham, 1827–28 

Oil on canvas 57 x 48 inches 

Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh 

© Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland

It's bitter cold, I know.  And another snowstorm is on the way.  So - take advantage of the warmth and beauty inside these walls.  You don't want to miss it.

Happy Groundhog's Day,

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com