Mrs. Potter Palmer
1893
Bertha Honoré Palmer, the ultimate Gilded Age socialite, stands here in all her white-dressed glory, looking like she just stepped out of a sunlit window. Swedish master Anders Zorn captured her in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition, using his signature loose, almost impressionistic brushstrokes to make her silk gown shimmer and flow. She holds a fan and wears a tiara, radiating the kind of wealth and confidence that could buy entire art collections—which she did, becoming one of America's greatest art patrons. Zorn managed to paint this stunning portrait in just a few sittings, proving why he was the most sought-after portraitist of the era.
- Technique
- Oil on canvas
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