Portrait of Mr. Samuel Hamilton Brooks

Cecilia Beaux was born in Philadelphia and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1877 to 1879. She had a canvas accepted in the Paris Salon of 1887, a signal honor for a woman of her time.  Upon her return from a four year trip to Europe in 1892, her reputation as a portrait painter was quickly established.  Important commissions soon followed and included a portrait of Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and her daughter Ethel at the White House in 1901.

In the portraits of both Samuel Brooks and his wife, Beaux has turned the figures slightly into the virtual space of the canvas to suggest a greater sense of vitality, yet the two paintings are quite different.  Mr. Brooks, who is seated close to the picture plane with nothing separating him from the viewer, almost fills the canvas and is set against a simplified backdrop providing few distractions.  The portrait emphasizes the calm dignity of the sitter who directly engages the viewer with a steady gaze.  Suggesting either his business or intellectual concerns is the rolled-up paper he clasps.  His loosely painted clothing contributes to his apparent vigor, while the lapel and waistcoat edges draw the viewer's attention back to the image of his face.