Portrait of Ella Blaue, artist’s adopted daughter 1903

Hans Thoma painted this portrait of his adopted daughter, Ella Blaue, in Germany, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is an intimate portrayal, and the painting presents us with questions about Thoma’s family and professional life. The painting appears conventional in its rendering of a demure young woman against a landscape backdrop, but perhaps it also tells a more complex story. Thoma was associated with a revival of interest in the art of the German Renaissance, and his work often incorporated idealized and nostalgic depictions of rural life. Here, however, Ella is in modern dress, her gaze averted in a manner that defies narrative interpretation. To what extent did institutions such as the family and the art academy shape Thoma’s work? Art historians consult letters, diaries, and exhibition reviews to investigate such questions and to understand the cultural work performed by images like this one.