This informal portrait of Louis Comfort Tiffany, President of Tiffany Studios and the son of the founder of Tiffany & Co., reflects both the artist’s skill at depicting light, and the attitudes of the wealthy in early twentieth-century America. The carefully curated ease of the sitter’s pose contrasts the “artist at work” with the elegance and formality of his attire. Tiffany’s white suit is built up from blue, green, and yellow tones, which displays Sorolla’s adept knowledge of light and color, owing to his signature Impressionist style. The garden bursts with colorful blooms, with the north shore of Long Island visible behind the foliage—again contrasting the informality of a rambling flower garden with the sophisticated environment enjoyed by the East Coast upper-class milieu.
Guest author: Catherine Howard
