Robert Livingston Cutting Jr. (1836–1894)

Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta's portrait of Robert Livingston Cutting Jr. — a member of the prominent New York patrician family — was one of several Cutting family portraits he completed in the mid-1880s, evidence of his access to New York high society. The Cuttings were descended from the Livingston family, one of New York's most distinguished colonial and post-colonial dynasties. De Madrazo's ability to attract such patrons on both sides of the Atlantic reflected his reputation as an exceptionally accomplished society portraitist trained in Paris.

Male patrician portraiture requires the dignified neutrality of the gentleman's portrait tradition: formal but not stiff, the sitter's status conveyed through bearing and dress rather than accessories. De Madrazo renders the face with careful naturalism, the jacket and cravat with appropriate material specificity.