Portrait of an Unknown Sitter as a Troubadour
- MAKER:
Artist
Unknown ( Unknown )
- DATE:
- c. 1870-1880
General Description
Paul Verlaine, a poet as revolutionary as the Impressionists were as painters, is shown in a vaguely Medieval costume, as a wandering minstrel, or troubadour, but the painting is in a style quite different from academic art—strong chiaroscuro, softly defined forms, the quick brush work of the Impressionists—plus a brooding romantic quality and a sensitive realism in the rendering of the poet's features.
Adapted from
Anne Bromberg, "Looking at Art: France in the 19th Century," DMA Bulletin Summer 1986, 11-13.
Web Resources
-
Poetry Foundation
Learn more about the life and work of Paul Verlaine. -
Project Gutenberg
Read the poetry of Paul Verlaine. -
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
View a portrait of Paul Verlaine by Eugène Carrière. -
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
View a photograph of Paul Verlaine.