#society
Art the community tagged “society” — see what people make of it.
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George W. Vanderbilt by James McNeill Whistler, 1900
National Gallery of Art · wikidata.org
Public domain
From what I've read, he was still working on this when he died, so it was never actually finished — which might explain a few things, or might not.
Erisava: Looks like an old days school teacher, with the cane.
Portrait of Mrs. Francis Stanton Blake by Julius LeBlanc Stewart, 1908
Walters Art Museum · wikidata.org
Public domain
According to Wikipedia he spent most of his life in Paris painting rich Americans abroad. His father had made a fortune in sugar, so he had the run of that world rather than having to talk his way into it. Portraits like this were partly a business — you paid to be seen looking like this.
Erisava: Is this any different from paying for a really good photo?