Artwork Page for Capri Lace Maker

Details / Information for Capri Lace Maker

Capri Lace Maker

1884

George B. Butler

(American, 1838–1907)
Culture
America
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Unframed: 160 x 84.5 cm (63 x 33 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Helen C. Butler 1915.76
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

George Butler studied with the American artist Thomas Hicks in New York City before going to Paris in 1859 to study with Thomas Couture, whose most famous pupils included Édouard Manet and Puvis de Chavannes. He returned to the United States and served in the Union Army during the Civil War, at which point he lost his right arm. He went to Italy in 1875, where he remained for a number of years. During his stay abroad, Butler painted Capri Lace Maker. Although to a contemporary viewer this work may seem to be a fairly traditional, conservative composition, the bravura of the brushwork and the thick layers of pigment mark the European influence on Butler's style. An accomplished academic painter, Butler was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1873 and exhibited this work there in 1884. A gift of the artist's daughter, Capri Lace Maker was the first painting to enter the museum's collection on February 2, 1915.
A vertically oriented oil painting depicts a woman with medium skin tone seated in profile, body angled toward our right. Dark hair is pinned back, showing a gold earring. Her eyes are downcast as she works on a length of white lace. She wears a white blouse with puffed sleeves over a dark blue patterned skirt. A large green jug rests on a plaid rug in the foreground against a dark background.

Capri Lace Maker

1884

George B. Butler

(American, 1838–1907)
America

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