“The Turquoise Necklace”
Today, an early twentieth century portrait done in the neoclassical style…
“The Turquoise Necklace” is a lovely oil on canvas portrait painting by the English Academic artist, William Clarke Wontner, from 1914.
In this piece a young woman leans against a sill on a marbled wall while stepping barefoot on a leopard skin rug. She stares into the eye of the viewer. Though her hair is contemporary with the portrait, her dress is classically inspired. Wontner, like many artists of his day, had a wardrobe of exotic clothing and costume pieces that he would use to dress his sitters in. Exotic props from distant cultures were also used.
The woman is dressed in a see-through yellow dress, with a scarf wrapped around her body and draping over her left shoulder. Her left elbow is leaning against the sill, with her hand holding up her head displaying her short, modern haircut. Her right hand is playing with a long turquoise necklace which gives the name to the painting. A vase with delicate flowers and green foliage is sitting on the sill just to her right.
Wontner was a master at painting fabrics, as seen in the way the dress sits against her body and folds around her feet. His careful reproduction of the marble wall behind the figure also displays his close attention to detail.
William Clarke Wontner was an academic artist who had a wonderful way of combining neoclassical elements of ideal beauty with more contemporary fashion, often setting them against a background of marble. This painting is a perfect example of just how well he could do that. He was a contemporary of John William Godward, another portrait artist who painted his subjects in a neoclassical style. While Godward chose warmer hues to paint his subjects, Wontner opted for cooler colors.
“The Turquoise Necklace” is currently in a private collection.
For more on William Clarke Wontner, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
