Portrait of Eva Callimachi-Catargi

Eva Callimachi-Catargi was a Parisian heiress of Romanian descent, from an old boyar family, and a friend of the painter who moved easily among the artists of the day, the composer Ernest Chausson and the sculptor Auguste Rodin among them. Fantin-Latour, better known for crowding such people into large group portraits, here gives her a quiet room to herself. She stands almost life-size, a grande dame defined by her bearing and fine dress rather than by any display of wealth. The light is even and sober, saved for a few points that catch it: a gleaming gold armband, a fan, and a pale pink flower low on the right whose ruffled shape echoes the frills of her gown. He painted her twice, this being the portrait of 1881, the year before she married. It came to this museum as a gift from Anton Kroller to his wife Helene for their 25th wedding anniversary.