Dorothea and Francesca

Cecilia Beaux explored the line between portraiture and figure painting in Dorothea and Francesca, which focuses less on the individuality of the sitters and more on their coordinated movements. The composition features two children of Beaux’s friends Helena de Kay and Richard Watson Gilder, an influential couple in New York’s cultural scene. A double portrait of the daughters engaged in a dancing lesson, the work visually evokes the transition from girlhood to adolescence.

A female artist competing for portrait commissions in the male-dominated art market of the turn of the 20th century, Beaux fared exceedingly well. She was also an influential teacher, becoming the first woman to secure a faculty position at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.