Who painted Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes?

Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes was painted by Cecilia Beaux in 1898-01-01.

Where can I see Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes?

Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What movement is Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes?

Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes is associated with American Impressionism.

Artwork

Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes

Cecilia Beaux , 1900

Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes is an oil painting by the American Impressionist artist Cecilia Beaux. It dates from 1900 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

The composition includes a desk, a letter, and a newspaper, suggesting the couple's engagement with correspondence and current affairs.

The painting is a dual portrait of the married couple Anson Phelps Stokes and Helen Louisa Phelps Stokes, set in a domestic interior. The composition includes a desk, a letter, and a newspaper, suggesting the couple's engagement with correspondence and current affairs. Their attire, lace, a ring, neck ribbon, and cravat, indicates their social status and refinement.

As a portrait, the work captures their likeness and conveys their union and personal identity within their milieu.

Technique & Style

The portrait is executed in oil on canvas, a medium and support characteristic of Cecilia Beaux's formal portraiture. The canvas measures 183 by 101.3 cm, creating a tall vertical format. Formal and stylistic qualities include a full-length depiction of the couple with accessories such as lace, a ring, a cravat, a letter, a newspaper, and a desk, which situate the scene in an interior. Specific details on condition or technique are not recorded in the available sources.

Overview

Cecilia Beaux's 1898 oil on canvas, "Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes," represents her initial New York commission. This double portrait depicts the prominent merchant, banker, and philanthropist Anson Phelps Stokes alongside his wife, Helen Louisa Stokes, within their Madison Avenue residence. Beaux employed an atypical arrangement, positioning Helen prominently in the foreground while Anson appears behind her, creating a distinct visual dynamic. The painting measures approximately six by three feet.

Context

Beaux's compositional choice directly references John Singer Sargent's 1897 portrait of the Stokes' son, Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, and his wife, Edith Minturn Phelps Stokes. This parallel suggests an artistic dialogue between two leading portraitists of the era, both favored by the influential Stokes family. The deliberate echo highlights a contemporary trend in portraiture and the interconnectedness of artistic practice among fashionable painters and their clientele.

History & Provenance

Anson Phelps Stokes, a notable New York merchant and philanthropist, commissioned this painting in 1898, marking Cecilia Beaux's first major engagement in the city. Following this double portrait, Beaux was commissioned to paint Edith Minturn Phelps Stokes individually. The artwork later entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1965, gifted by the family of the Reverend and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes, and is cataloged under object number 65.252.

Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes, John Singer Sargent

Artist & collection

Artist

Cecilia Beaux

Eliza Cecilia Beaux (May 1, 1855 – September 17, 1942) was an American artist and the first woman to teach art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Continue through works from the same source collection.