Émile Friant: Portrait of Charles Frederick Worth, 1893

  • Musée d'Orsay
     
     

  • I discovered Friant’s work during a visit at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, where I was struck by his realist language. The Portrait of Charles Worth is not the kind of image you would expect from him, indeed, but it is an extraordinarily deep and atmospheric rendition of a likeness. As a full-length depiction of the father of haute couture, it is also a unique document and a statement of his importance in the history fashion. The painting now hangs in the Musée d’Orsay, who acquired it from the Gallery in February 2022.

  • Émile Friant
    1863 - 1932

     

    Portrait of Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895)

    1893
    Oil on canvas
    228 x 129 cm

     

    PROVENANCE

    • Commissioned by Worth to Friant in 1890

    • By descent in the family until at least 1956

    • Sale, New York, Doyle, Couture, Textiles and Accessories, 6th November 2002, lot 487, where re-acquired by a descendant of the Worth Family

    • Worth Family descendant, US until 2020