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Natalie at Ten
Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran (French, born Lille, France 1838-died Paris, France 1917)
1887
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- 31 3/8 x 23 1/2 in. (79.7 x 59.7 cm)
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
This painting depicts Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972), the eldest daughter of Washington, D.C., socialite and painter Alice Pike Barney (1857-1931), who studied with the artist in Paris. Known for his realistic portraits, Carolus-Duran felt he could capture a sitter's character through his or her gestures and expression. Natalie's confident demeanor and inquisitive gaze, accentuated by her dark clothing, suggest her willful independence as a child. As an adult, Natalie hosted intellectual gatherings in her Paris home. She was one of the first openly lesbian modern writers and had a fifty-year relationship with artist Romaine Brooks.
