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signed Boldini and dated 1906 (lower left)

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Baron Maurice de Rothschild (acquired directly from the artist)
Thence by descent
Sale, Christie's, New York, November 1, 1995, lot 10, illustrated (acquired by the present owner from the above sale)
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

C. Ragghianti and E. Camesasca, L'opera completa di Boldini, Milan, 1970, no. 423, p. 122, illustrated
P. Mauriès, Boldini, Milan, 1987, p. 105, illustrated
T. Panconi, Boldini, L'uomo e la pittura, Pisa, 1998, no. 132/E-27, p. 217, illustrated
B. Doria, Giovanni Boldini, Catalogo generale dagli archivi Boldini, Milan, 2000, no. 512, illustrated
T. Panconi, Giovanni Bolidni, L'opera Completa, Florence, 2002, p. 475, illustrated
CATALOGUE NOTE

Giovanni Boldini was the premier painter of women during the era of La Belle Epoque, the prosperous, charmed years that opened the twentieth-century. Since the late 1880s, his ability to match a flattering likeness with a dynamic, colorful bravura style made his Paris studio a destination of social necessity for cosmopolitan beauties and aspiring ladies of the world. Even his occasional friendships with notorious, slightly mad, women of a more "artistic" social circle -- what we might today call an "edgier" celebrity list -- simply enhanced Boldini's status among the wealthiest and most socially powerful women of his era.

Mrs. John Howard-Johnston, née Dolly Baird of Dunbarton, was a Scottish beauty -- note her lush red hair which Boldini has flattered and tamed with the choice of a cold pink-lavender gown -- who first married British industrial wealth and then, following Howard-Johnston's death, remarried into French aristocratic status.

A significant factor in Boldini's success was his appreciation for the elaborate couture dresses favored by his clients; and he seems to have staved off the creative fatigue that trapped so many social portraitists by exploiting the flamboyance of his sitters' costumes to generate an equivalent painterly flash and sparkle. Mrs. Howard-Johnston's gown is an extraordinary confection of tulle, satin, and embroidered silk, manipulated by the artist to emphasize her creamy complexion and especially long legs. What appears to be a fur coat is dragged nonchalantly along the floor, suggesting that she has paused only momentarily to allow the artist and her audience to appreciate her beauty.

The recent Doria catalogue, drawing on Boldini's studio archives, publishes a fascinating photograph of the present portrait painted over with a darker, more discreet gown and a flowery hair ornament, indicating that Boldini might have used such photos to consider updating existing portraits if fashion changed (a centuries' old problem for the portraitist and client alike), or possibly to plan poses and costumes for entirely different clients.

This catalogue entry was written by Alexandra Murphy.