Mrs. Robert Livingston Cutting (Juliana De Wolf, 1816–1891)

Alexandre Cabanel's portrait of Mrs. Robert Livingston Cutting (Juliana De Wolf, 1816-1891) is part of the same group of Cutting family commissions that also brought work to de Madrazo y Garreta. The choice of Cabanel — one of the most celebrated French academic painters and the teacher of dozens of American students in Paris — reflects the family's desire for the most prestigious possible artistic endorsement. Juliana De Wolf's portrait by the painter who had created official portraits of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie implicitly places her on an equal footing with European aristocracy.

Cabanel's trademark smooth technique — the almost glassy surface of his skin rendering, the immaculate drapery, the carefully balanced composition — is fully deployed here. The result is a portrait of elegant restraint: likeness, dignity, and material richness rendered in a manner that aspires to timelessness.