Portrait of a Lady, Mrs Lionel Phillips 1903

Giovanni Boldini painted this oil-on-canvas portrait of Mrs. Lionel Phillips, an eminent member of London's Edwardian society. The composition reflects a society undergoing rapid transformation, and the painting can be read as an expression of these changing cultural values. Consider how the loose brushwork and the subject’s relaxed pose challenge the rigid formality of earlier portraiture. Boldini was an Italian artist working in Paris, a city that was the epicenter of modern art. The elites who sat for him often came from families that made their fortunes from industrial capitalism, mining or banking. Here, Mrs. Phillips reclines with a black fan, symbolising wealth and status. The work might be seen as a commentary on the newly rich, whose social standing depended on the conspicuous display of wealth. To fully understand this work, one might investigate the patronage networks that sustained artists such as Boldini, and further research the history of fashion and manners in Europe at the turn of the century.