Caption

Portrait of Helena's daughter with a dog, by Alfred Izydor Römer 1832–1897. Pastel on paper, ca. 1890; 64.4 × 48.5 cm. The portrait shows the artist's teenage daughter, Helena 1875–1947. She has long fair hair, wears a brown dress trimmed with white lace and a black hat adorned with a cluster of pink and white ostrich feathers, and holds a small shaggy black dog with a red ribbon around its neck. The subject's face is meticulously rendered with delicate, smooth pastel strokes; the hair, dress, hat, and dog are depicted with broader strokes and the feathers, hair, and fur with the pastel’s sharp tip along the form. Executed in Kraków while the family resided there so their daughter could attend a Polish school, the work is in a very traditional style with clear references to eighteenth-century portraiture a slightly stylized costume, richly feathered hat, and the mood of the depiction. The composition and motif show inspiration from Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s portraits of children with birds or dogs; Römer is known to have copied Greuze’s works and likely encountered Greuze’s pastels during his stay in Paris., A framed portrait of a young girl shown in profile facing left, wearing a dark wide-brimmed hat with a pale yellow trim and a large plume of pinkish and white feathers, with long wavy blonde hair falling over her brown dress that has a high lacy collar and a row of dark buttons; she holds a small curly-furred black and gray dog with a red ribbon around its neck.

Credit line

Photo12/Liszt Collection

Reference

LZT26A32_376

License type

Rights managed

Available size

43.7Mb (2.0Mb) / 11.4in x 14.9in / 3417 x 4466 (300dpi)

Keywords

Portrait Helena's daughter dog Alfred Izydor Römer 1832–1897 Pastel paper ca 1890 portrait artist's teenage daughter Helena 1875–1947 long fair hair wears brown dress trimmed white lace black hat adorned cluster pink white ostrich feathers holds small shaggy black dog red ribbon neck subject's face meticulously rendered delicate smooth pastel strokes hair dress hat depicted broader strokes feathers fur pastel’s sharp tip form Executed Kraków family resided daughter attend Polish school work traditional style clear references eighteenth-century portraiture slightly stylized costume richly feathered mood depiction composition motif inspiration Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s portraits children birds dogs Römer copied Greuze’s works encountered Greuze’s pastels stay Paris framed portrait young girl shown profile facing left wearing dark wide-brimmed hat pale yellow trim large plume pinkish white feathers long wavy blonde falling brown dress high lacy collar row dark buttons small curly-furred black gray dog neck.