Frieda Schiff, Anders Zorn
In the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Given the relatively weak greens in the curtain and background, I suppose it’s possible this was painted with Zorn’s famously eponymous palette.
The “Zorn Palette”, with which the Swedish artist is presumed to have painted many (though certainly not all) of his paintings, consisted of Ivory Black, Vermillion, Flake White and Yellow Ochre. It is essentially a portrait palette, and Zorn’s effective use of it is a testament to the power of a limited palette.
The seemingly casual but astonishingly effective brush strokes in the dress are indicative of Zorn’s position as one of the “masters of the loaded brush”, a short list that also includes John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla (I would personally add Cecilia Beaux to that list, but hey, that’s just me).
