“Portrait of the dancer Marietta di Rigardo”
Today, one from the German Impressionists…
“Portrait of the dancer Marietta di Rigardo” is a lovely oil on canvas painting by the German Impressionist artist, Max Slevogt, from 1904. Along with Lovis Corinth and Max Libermann, Slevogt is one of the most celebrated of the German Impressionists.
Though known for his landscapes, Slevogt was fond of both music and theater. During the 1900s, in the style of Édouard Manet, Slevogt set out to create life size portraits of some of the most influential music, theater, and dance talents of his day.
Marietta di Rigardo was a famous flamenco dancer who lived from 1880 to 1966. She worked and achieved fame in Berlin in the early twentieth century. Originally from the Philippines, when Mariettta moved to Germany, she delved into the Berlin art scene and soon became an integral part of it. When this piece was painted, Marietta was married to the director of the Berlin cabaret, Georg David Schulz. This romance was short-lived and in 1907, she married the German writer, Ludwig Thoma. In 1911, this marriage also ended in divorce.
Slevogt did several study sketches of this piece beforehand. One of the studies, “Dancer Marietta di Rigardo (study)”, is an oil on cardboard sketch of this painting. Though very similar in color, Slevogt revised the perspective and slightly altered the composition for the final painting.
“Portrait of the dancer Marietta di Rigardo” and its study companion piece are both in the collections of the Galerie Neue Meister, which is part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, Germany.
For more on Max Slevogt, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
