1861

Portrait of Mrs. Susanna Rose

English, 1829 - 1904

The minute precision of the draftsmanship and the delicate coloring of this portrait are hallmarks of the work of Frederick Sandys, who is known for his illustrations of English periodicals as well as for being part of the Pre-Raphaelite circle (a group of young English artists interested in recapturing the sincerity and simplicity of early Italian art, before the time of Raphael). Susanna Rose was the mother of a lawyer with whom Sandys traveled to Belgium in 1862. Perhaps inspired by the Flemish paintings he saw there, Sandys used this drawing as the basis for a small, exquisite oil portrait he made in 1863, executed in the style of a Flemish or German Renaissance portrait.