Portrait of Anna Alexandrovna Obolenskaya

Carolus-Duran was one of the most fashionable portrait painters in late nineteenth-century Paris. His portraits are confident and dashing, with loose, fluid brushwork, strong blacks and rich fabrics, inspired by Velázquez. He painted society women in particular with great style. He was born Charles Auguste Émile Durand in Lille in 1837 and studied locally before moving to Paris and adopting the name Carolus-Duran. His early work followed Courbet’s realism, but after 1870 he worked almost only on portraits. The Lady with the Glove of 1869, a portrait of his wife, made his name. He ran a popular teaching studio in Paris, where his pupils included John Singer Sargent, and from 1905 to 1913 he was director of the French Academy in Rome. He died in Paris in 1917. In The Lady with the Glove, look at the dropped glove on the floor and the quick, sure strokes of the dress.