Portraits des dames - paintings by Alexandre Cabanel

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1876.

Cabanel was a rather inconsistent portrait artist, stylistically and as to the actual quality of his work. Comparing the images here, one can easily see how his finished work differed greatly from painting to painting. Some have a gauzy, atmospheric quality while others have a very solid feeling, a strong sense of the figure in space. Some seem fully formed, descriptive of character, while others are doll-like or rather wooden; placed side by side, his work doesn't even always appear to be by the same hand. Many of his paintings are quite beautiful - expert, charming - but I feel that his lack of individuality and consistency keep him from the first rank of portrait artists.

(Detail of above.)

Baroness von Derwies (von Derviz), 1871.

Mary Victoria Leiter, later Lady Curzon of Kedleston, Vicereine of India, 1887.

Olivia Peyton Murray Cutting, wife of William Bayard Cutting, 1887.

Mrs. Robert Livingston Cutting, 1888.

Sophie and Berthe Cabanel, the artist's nieces, 1872.

"Portrait of a Young Lady", circa 1884.

 Mrs. Collis Potter Huntington, 1882.

(Detail of above.)

Madame Edouard Hervé, 1884.

Countess Elizaveta Andreevna Vorontsova-Dashkova, 1873.

Madame Carette, 1868.

Mary Frick Garrett, later Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs, 1885.

Miss Fanny Clapp, 1881.

Comtesse de Keller, 1873.

(Detail of above.)