continental-school-late-19th-century-portrait-of-a-pensive-man
Lot 646
Continental School (late 19th century), Portrait of a Pensive Man
Lot Details & Additional Photographs
Oil on canvas, unsigned, unframed.

30 x 22 3/4 in.

From the Collection of the late Sterling Boyd, Raleigh, North Carolina
Sterling Boyd was a consummate collector and Southern gentleman. Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, he studied art history at Sewanee: The University of the South, Oberlin College, and received his doctorate from Princeton University. He shared his enthusiasm for the fine arts through positions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. Boyd also taught and mentored future art historians at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and later headed the art department at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Following his academic and museum careers, Sterling Boyd channeled his talents for interior design and decoration. His Raleigh apartment was a cabinet of curiosities, each item carefully collected from his world travels and perfectly placed in his jewel box of a home.

An exceptionally well done portrait of a man in partial profile, his jacket and vest are rendered in broad brushstrokes while more care is taken in the depiction of the sitter's visage. The flesh tones are realistically rendered and juxtaposed well against the muted burgundy background.

Faint stretcher marks; small paint flake along edge of canvas at lower right; minor rubbing to edges of canvas; no evidence of retouch visible under UV light.