Portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt

dated 1880

Oil on canvas “Portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt” (Spanish, dated 1880) by Raimundo de Madrazo Y Garreta (Spanish, 1841-1920). The portrait depicts Gertrude Vanderbilt (1875-1942) at age five, she is shown at full length seated on a giltwood stool, posed against a backdrop of lush blue drapery, with her feet crossed and perched upon a pillow. She wears a frilled white dress with a pink satin sash tied around her mid-section and black boots. The canvas is signed and dated on the upper right corner and is housed in its original carved giltwood frame by the workshops of Jules Allard et sis Fils. The elaborate frame is decorated with an egg-and-dart molded border crested by a bow-knotted floral wreath with cascading floral garlands.

Gertrude sat for the portrait during a family visit to Paris. That same summer, Madrazo also painted a portrait of her mother Alice Claypoole Gwynne Vanderbilt (1845-1934) (PSNC.8112).

.a = canvas portrait
.b = giltwood frame

Spanish

oil on canvas

giltwood frame

Purchased by The Preservation Society of Newport County, 2021.

PSNC.14537.a-.b

PSNC.8112