1891
oil
canvas
From the collection of Hammer Museum
Dr. Pozzi at Home is a 1891 oil by John Singer Sargent, a Impressionism work, depicting Robe, held at Hammer Museum.
The painting shows a man in a long red robe, with white ruffles around his neck and wrists. He stands with his left hand on his hip and his right hand on his chest. The background is a deep red color. The man's robe is a striking feature of the painting, and its bright color draws the viewer's attention. The artist's use of chiaroscuro, a technique that uses strong contrasts between light and dark to create a sense of volume, adds depth to the painting. If you're interested in learning more about the artist's use of chiaroscuro, you might want to look up the technique and see how it's used in other paintings.
Dr Pozzi at Home is an 1881 oil painting by the American artist John Singer Sargent. The portrait of the French gynaecologist and art collector Samuel Jean de Pozzi was Sargent's first large portrait of a male subject: it measures 201.6 cm × 102.2 cm (6 ft 7.4 in × 3 ft 4.2 in). It was the first work that Sargent exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. It was acquired by Armand Hammer in 1967, and has been held by the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles since 1991.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The aesthetic and charismatic Dr Pozzi was painted around the age of 35, but the composition departs markedly from the usual formal academic portraits of medical doctors in sombre professional clothing. Pozzi is depicted standing informally "at home", dressed in a voluminous full-length bright scarlet robe de chambre, tied with a red cord at the waist with provocatively dangling tassel. His robe is reminiscent of a monastic habit, and recalls Renaissance portraits of Catholic popes and cardinals, but also resembles a woman's full-length tea gown. He is standing back on his left leg, with…
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The portrait was retained by Dr Pozzi until his death in 1918, and then kept by his widow and later inherited by his son, Jean Pozzi. It was acquired by Armand Hammer after Jean's death in 1967; and after Hammer's death in 1990, the painting was transferred to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in 1991. An exhibition which included the painting in 2015, at the National Portrait Gallery, London and later that year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, was the trigger for the 2019 book by Julian Barnes, The Man in the Red Coat.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Belle Époque and Edwardian-era luxury.
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