This portrait depicting virginia purdy bacon (1853-1919) was originally commissioned by the model's brother clarence barker, who himself had previously been depicted by zorn in the one executed in london in 1885, as well as the watercolor clarence barker. Virginia and clarence were the grandchildren of the famous magnate and billionaire cornelius vanderbilt. Virginia was born in new york but moved with her family at a young age to bordeaux where in 1882 she married walter rathbone bacon, a prominent businessman who developed tram traffic across large parts of europe. In other words, virginia hardly had to worry about her livelihood, but instead took an active part in international social life, which was made up of the rich and famous. The bacon couple divided their time between several impressive residences in bordeaux, scotland and new york. Virginia's considerable network of contacts and extensive interest in art resulted in a number of portraits of her executed by the leading artists of the day. In addition to the present portrait, which was executed in paris in 1891, zorn also painted another portrait of virginia (this time full-length) commissioned by the magnate, art collector and philanthropist charles deering. The later portrait from 1897 mrs. Walter rathbone bacon is now part of the prestigious collections at the metropolitan museum of art in new york, where it was donated by virginia in memory of her husband after his death in 1915. Soon after, the portrait in question was mentioned in 1917 in american art news as: "the finest woman's portrait the swedish modern master ever produced". Zorn's biographer gerda boëthius writes in her extensive work on the artist from 1949:
"returning to paris in the autumn of 1891, he painted mrs. Walter bacon, a beautiful american, wearing a cut dress with large puff sleeves. She sits straight against a strong, almost annealed red background, which emphasizes her dark hair, white teeth, and light complexion. It is a brilliant portrait, and painted with intensity and schwung. The large surfaces of the puff sleeves gave occasion for effect. They caught the light of the well-calculated planes and reflected the complementary colors, that shine in a japanese screen and other accessories". Object Type: painting. Date: 1891. Place of creation: Paris, France. Dimensions: height: 73 cm (28.7 in); width: 60.5 cm (23.8 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Private collection. Virginia Purdy Bacon by Anders Zorn
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