“An Auburn Beauty”
Another beautiful portrait from John William Godward…
“An Auburn Beauty” is an oil on canvas portrait painting by the English Neoclassical artist, John William Godward, from 1895.
This portrait exhibits typical Godward aspects, a softened depiction of a woman in a studied pose. Her profile is striking, matched only by the intensity of the red in her hair. Her curls have been brushed out, adding a softened texture to the hair upon her face.
An interesting feature of this portrait is that the fashion of the sitter is a bit more modern than his usual women. Her gold headband, exposed shoulders, and shorter hairstyle give the portrait an overall modern feel to it. The black background brings the viewers full attention to the face.
Since Godward was a classical scholar, he did a lot of research on architectural styles and period clothing to give his paintings more authenticity. He had a lot of wealthy patrons including other Victorian era scholars of the Classic age and newly rich people who wanted to build their art collections. Perhaps this more modern portrait was one of his wealthy patrons.
Godward painted a second portrait of this same woman in 1895, titled “A Lady”, currently in the collections of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland.
“An Auburn Beauty” is currently in a private collection.
For more on John William Godward, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
