Medallion and Chain c. 1936

Dana Bartlett's 'Medallion and Chain' is a monochromatic dream, a delicate dance of grays that captures jewelry and a time gone by. I imagine Bartlett, eyes squinting, maybe in his studio, focused on capturing the weight and gleam of each link. There’s something so tender about the way he renders the cameo, a ghostly profile emerging from the oval. It’s as though he’s not just painting jewelry, but memory itself. You can almost feel the coolness of the metal, the smooth surface of the stone, the weight of history. The floating earring feels like an afterthought or an addition, and maybe he was thinking about what it must have been like to wear these pieces, the stories they could tell, of love, loss, and legacy. This connects with other artists who have explored similar themes, like Giorgio Morandi, who found endless beauty in the simplest of objects. 'Medallion and Chain' is a gentle reminder that art is everywhere, in the mundane and the magnificent.