Thursday, June 22, 2017

Friedrich von Kaulbach Paints Geraldine Farrar

Beautiful, famous women attracted well-known portrait painters. In some cases, the painters would create multiple versions of their subject. Such was the case of opera star Geraldine Farrar (1882-1967) and Munich-based Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1850-1920). Biogrphical information on Farrar is here, and a brief summary of Kaulbach's career is here.

I suspect that Kaulbach was fascinated by and infatuated with the 32-years-younger singer. He was probably not alone.

Gallery

Photo of Farrar when young, not very far from the time she was in Germany and Kaulbach painted her.

Farrar shown in a performance setting. This painting is in Seattle's Frye Museum collection.

Studie zu einem Bildnis der Sängerin Geraldine Farrar (Study for a Portrait of the Singer Geraldine Farrar), a 1906 painting.


This painting and the one above it portray Farrar wearing essentially the same costume.

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