Rehearsal in the Studio
Artist
Edmund Charles Tarbell
(American, 1862–1938)
Dateabout 1904
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 63.5 x 76.2 cm (25 x 30 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Sherman
Terms
Object number1922.200
Label TextTarbell captured genteel New England society in quiet, light-filled interiors. After training at the Académie Julian in Paris (1884-6), he established the Boston School, a group of artists whose style combined a traditional approach to figure painting—one that emphasized feminine beauty—with Impressionism. Rehearsal in the Studio depicts upper-class women engaged in choir practice accompanied by a violinist. With delicate, textured brushwork, Tarbell renders the ladies in billowing white gowns. Paintings of cultural refinement like Spanish artist Diego Velázquez’s Pope Innocent X (on the wall above the sofa)—seen also in Tarbell’s A Girl Crocheting (1904)—witness their performance of conspicuous leisure. These artistic elements demonstrate Tarbell’s admiration of the Old Masters, including Johannes Vermeer, whose Dutch genre scenes were favored among Boston School painters. Through his facility with incorporating old and new stylistic techniques, Tarbell creates a rare atmosphere of privilege and domesticity enjoyed by the modern elite.ProvenanceEdmund C. Tarbell, ?; Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Sherman, Boston, ?-1922; WAM, 1922On View
Not on view
