Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes
Cecilia Beaux American
This work by the esteemed figure painter Cecilia Beaux depicts Anson Phelps Stokes (1838–1913) and his wife, Helen Louisa Stokes (1846–1930), in their Madison Avenue residence. The unconventional composition foregrounding the woman—with the man relegated to the rear—echoes John Singer Sargent’s famous portrayal of the sitters’ son and daughter-in-law, Edith Minturn Stokes, painted in London the previous year and also in The Met’s collection. Beaux followed her depiction of the elder Stokes—her first New York commission—with one of Edith alone (private collection). Such multiple, responsive commissions were especially common during the 1890s, a popular decade for American portraiture.
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