Provenance

Jakob Goldschmidt

German, 1882 - 1955

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Shown from the thighs up, a boy wearing a crimson-red waistcoat stands against swags of fabric painted with visible strokes in white, sky blue, harvest yellow, and sage green in this loosely painted, vertical portrait. Painted with choppy brushstrokes, the boy has pale, ivory-white skin, blushing pink cheeks, pursed lips, faint eyebrows, and topaz-blue eyes that gaze down to our right. His shoulder-length, dark brown hair is tucked behind one ear under a brown wide-brimmed hat. His red waistcoat is worn over a long-sleeved, slate-blue shirt. The collar of his skirt is slightly flipped up on his right side, to our left, and a swipe of cobalt blue suggests a tie or scarf between the lapels. A band of sapphire blue could be a belt above olive-green trousers, and dashes of navy blue create shadows. His right hand, to our left, is planted on that hip. The other arm hangs straight and loose by his side, those fingertips almost brushing the bottom edge of the canvas. The boy’s body is outlined in dark blue. The drapery behind him falls in folds that sweep gently to our right. The background is painted with patches and swipes of cool blues and greens, and pale golden yellow. One swag of the drapery, over the shoulder to our left, is painted with a loose pattern suggesting leaves. One back post and a sliver of the curving back of a wooden chair peeks into the composition in the lower left corner.
Paul Cezanne, Boy in a Red Waistcoat, 1888-1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1995.47.5

Boy in a Red Waistcoat

Paul Cezanne · 1888-1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1995.47.5

Bibliography

1955

  • Art News 54 (November 1955): 68 [obituary]

  • The New York Times. 25 September, 1955: 92, col. 5. [obituary]

1957

  • The Connoisseur 139 (March 1957): 42.

1958

  • NGA Vertical Files, clipping from Washington Star, 16 October 1958

1970

  • Towner, Wesley. The Elegant Auctioneers. Completed by Stephen Varble. New York, 1970: 588-590, 606.