George P. A. Healy | Euphemia White Van Rensselaer, 1842

Euphemia Van Rensselaer (1816-1888) was the daughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer and the sister of Alexander Van Rensselaer.

She was born in Rensselaerswyck, near Albany, New York, and inherited a portion of her father's vast estate in 1839.

This picture was painted in 1842, the year before her marriage to John Church Cruger, a prominent lawyer with whom she settled on Cruger's Island near Barrytown, New York.

George Peter Alexander Healy | Euphemia White Van Rensselaer, 1842 (detail) | Metropolitan Museum of Art

George Peter Alexander Healy (American, 1813-1894) painted the portrait in Paris, where he executed works for visiting Americans as well as for the French king, Louis Philippe.

He blends both lavish detail and texture with a sensitive portrayal of character before a setting suggestive of the Roman campagna from which the sitter had just returned.

The portrait, which shows the influence of the German-born painter Franz Xavier Winterhalter, demonstrates a stunning simplicity, grace, and vivacity rarely equalled in Healy's oeuvre. | Source: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

George Peter Alexander Healy | Portrait of the Artist, 1851 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

George Peter Alexander Healy | Euphemia White Van Rensselaer, 1842 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Euphemia Van Rensselaer (1816-1888) era figlia di Stephen Van Rensselaer e sorella di Alexander Van Rensselaer.

Lei nacque a Rensselaerswyck, vicino ad Albany, New York, ed ereditò una parte della vasta proprietà di suo padre nel 1839.

Questo quadro fu dipinto nel 1842, l'anno prima del suo matrimonio con John Church Cruger, un importante avvocato con il quale si stabilì sull'isola di Cruger vicino a Barrytown, New York.

George Peter Alexander Healy | Euphemia White Van Rensselaer, 1842 (detail) | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Il pittore Americano George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-1894) dipinse il ritratto a Parigi, dove eseguì opere per gli americani in visita e per il re francese Luigi Filippo.

Unisce dettagli e texture sontuosi con una rappresentazione sensibile del personaggio davanti a un'ambientazione suggestiva della campagna romana da cui il soggetto era appena tornato.

Il ritratto, che mostra l'influenza del pittore di origine tedesca Franz Xavier Winterhalter, dimostra una straordinaria semplicità, grazia e vivacità raramente eguagliate nell'opera di Healy. | Fonte: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

George Peter Alexander Healy | Vinnie Ream in ciociara costume, 1870 | Smithsonian American Art Museum

George Peter Alexander Healy | Jennie Byrd Bryan, 1874

George Peter Alexander Healy | Abraham Lincoln

George Peter Alexander Healy | The Peacemakers, 1868 | White House, Washington D.C.