Thomas M. Stell Jr.'s intense interest in design is evident in the bold, hard-edged contours of his young sitter's body and the highly ornate background. The stillness and frozen quality of the composition recall the artist's reverence for early Italian and Northern Renaissance paintings, which he saw during his European studies. Stell brought reproductions of these works back to Dallas, opening up new artistic avenues for his colleagues in the Dallas Nine. The directness of his portraiture is also indebted to the example of two of his New York teachers, George Luks and Charles Webster Hawthorne.

Adapted from

William Keyse Rudolph, DMA Label copy (1990.187), March 2007

• This painting was a gift to the Dallas Museum of Art from one of Stell's former students, Marjorie M. Meyer. Other artists who trained with Stell in Dallas include William Lester, Lloyd Geoff, Verda Ligon, Florence McClung, and Everett Spruce—all of whom are represented in the Museum's collection.