There are many portraits at the Worcester Art Museum. We will look at two portraits to see what we might learn from them.

Thomas Gainsborough's two daughters were among his favorite subjects. He painted at least five double and several individual portraits of them at various ages. Here he suggested his daughters' interest in his own profession by showing them holding drawing materials and next to two classical sculptures. 

Gainsborough's two daughters were among his favorite subjects. He painted at least five double and several individual portraits of them at various ages. Here he suggested his daughters' interest in his own profession by showing them holding drawing materials and next to two classical sculptures. X-rays of the painting reveal that Margaret stood originally on the left side of the composition, facing her older sister, Mary. By repositioning her, Gainsborough stressed the close relationship between the two girls- a quality that can be seen also in his other portraits of them. Along with Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough was instrumental in raising British portrait painting to a level comparable to that found much earlier on the Continent. Influenced by French and Netherlandish art, especially the portraiture of Anthony van Dyck, Gainsborough incorporated elegance and expressive brushwork into his portraits, making him a favorite among England's aristocratic class.

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Worcester Art Museum

Portrait of the Artist's Daughters

X-rays of the painting reveal that Margaret stood originally on the left side of the composition, facing her older sister, Mary. By repositioning her, Gainsborough stressed the close relationship between the two girls- a quality that can be seen also in his other portraits of them. 

If you look closely, you can see where the artist first painted his daughter.

When Delaney moved to New York City at the outset of the Great Depression in 1929, he quickly fell in with the writers, artists, and musicians of Harlem and Greenwich Village. Throughout his life he painted portraits of these friends, though the identities of some, including “Gaylord” in this painting, remain a mystery. Gaylord is thought to have been a musician, a pianist with two fingers missing on one hand, who played at a club frequented by Delaney. To the right of Gaylord’s face is an image of a piano player, perhaps Gaylord himself, while on the left is a figure, possibly Delaney, standing in front of an easel. This work, with its bright colors and swirled brushstrokes, is reminiscent of one of Delaney’s main influences: Vincent van Gogh.

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Portrait of Gaylord

Artist Beauford Delaney moved to New York City at the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. He quickly began to work with the writers, artists, and musicians of Harlem and Greenwich Village. Throughout his life he painted portraits of his artist friends. 

Delaney is believed to have painted his friend Gaylord here. Like some of the people Delaney painted, we do not know who Gaylord was. Gaylord is thought to have been a musician, a pianist with two fingers missing on one hand, who played at a club frequented by Delaney.

To the right of Gaylord’s face is an image of a piano player, perhaps Gaylord himself, while on the left is a figure, possibly Delaney, standing in front of an easel. This work, with its bright colors and swirled brushstrokes, is reminiscent of one of Delaney’s main influences: Vincent van Gogh.

Look carefully at this work, Wheatfield with a Reaper, by French artist, Vincent van Gogh. The wheat was painted with "thick gobs of yellow paint." The swirls that you see in the wheat are similar to the swirls you see in 

Van Gogh painted this walled field from his hospital room. For the first few months that he was there, he was not allowed to leave the grounds.

The reaper labours in the heat of the sun. The wheat, painted with thick gobs of yellow, undulates around him. For Van Gogh, wheat was a symbol of the eternal cycle of nature and the transience of life. He saw the reaper as 'the image of death . . . in this sense that humanity would be the wheat being reaped.'

He added, however, that this death was 'almost smiling. It's all yellow except for a line of violet hills – a pale, blond yellow. I myself find that funny, that I saw it like that through the iron bars of a cell.'

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Wheatfield with a Reaper

This work, with its bright colors and swirled brushstrokes, is reminiscent of one of Delaney’s main influences: Vincent van Gogh.

Standards for Portraits