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Portrait of Aglaia Coronio

Date

ca. 1855

Creator

George Frederick Watts

Location

Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

Although Watts probably drew and painted this work directly from the model, as was his practice, Coronio is orchestrated as a half-length figure against a simplified red background to recall Titian's ideal female types such as Flora. The palette of cream, gold, salmon, and red provides a warm ambience for the quiet, dreamy presence of this young woman. Watts also employs that warmth to evoke a sense of living flesh under the rhythmically stroked folds of her sheer bodice. This affective environment, as it enfolds the figure, suggests that behind this serene visage is an interior life that is rich and full. Watts turns Coronio's classically chiseled face in three-quarter view, so that she demurely avoids confronting the viewer's gaze and thereby preserves for her personal space the special, solitary quality of a world apart. At the same time, she is placed so close to think of ourselves as almost sharing her physical space. The possibility of any kind of real intimacy with her is precluded, however, by virtue of the face that the surface, as it is glazed with warm varnishes, distances her psychological remoteness. This paradox is similar to the way in which her sheer bodice--so tactile and so close to use--both suggests her real proximity and her emotional self-containment through its dematerializing concealment of the body beneath it. Coronio's dreaming face finally closes the door on any notion of her accessibility. In this portrait Watts has rendered his friend faithfully, but her also projects her as a paradigmatic image of Victorian femininity which promised a private space of perfect sympathy and comfort for the male body and soul--a promise that was often difficult to realize. This portrait was one of two that Watts painted of Aglaia Ionides Coronio on the occasion of her marriage to Theodore Coronio. One portrait (Watts Museum, Compton, England) went to her father, Alexander Ionides, a wealthy merchant banker, importer, and Greek consul in London, and the other portrait, which undoubtedly is the Snite's, went to her new husband. At the time Watts painted this portrait, Aglaia Coronio would have been about 21 years old. from Snite Museum of Art, Face to Face (Notre Dame, 2003)

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Although Watts probably drew and painted this work directly from the model, as was his practice, Coronio is orchestrated as a half-length figure against a simplified red background to recall Titian's ideal female types such as Flora. The palette of cream, gold, salmon, and red provides a warm ambience for the quiet, dreamy presence of this young woman. Watts also employs that warmth to evoke a sense of living flesh under the rhythmically stroked folds of her sheer bodice. This affective environment, as it enfolds the figure, suggests that behind this serene visage is an interior life that is rich and full. Watts turns Coronio's classically chiseled face in three-quarter view, so that she demurely avoids confronting the viewer's gaze and thereby preserves for her personal space the special, solitary quality of a world apart. At the same time, she is placed so close to think of ourselves as almost sharing her physical space. The possibility of any kind of real intimacy with her is precluded, however, by virtue of the face that the surface, as it is glazed with warm varnishes, distances her psychological remoteness. This paradox is similar to the way in which her sheer bodice--so tactile and so close to use--both suggests her real proximity and her emotional self-containment through its dematerializing concealment of the body beneath it. Coronio's dreaming face finally closes the door on any notion of her accessibility. In this portrait Watts has rendered his friend faithfully, but her also projects her as a paradigmatic image of Victorian femininity which promised a private space of perfect sympathy and comfort for the male body and soul--a promise that was often difficult to realize. This portrait was one of two that Watts painted of Aglaia Ionides Coronio on the occasion of her marriage to Theodore Coronio. One portrait (Watts Museum, Compton, England) went to her father, Alexander Ionides, a wealthy merchant banker, importer, and Greek consul in London, and the other portrait, which undoubtedly is the Snite's, went to her new husband. At the time Watts painted this portrait, Aglaia Coronio would have been about 21 years old. from Snite Museum of Art, Face to Face (Notre Dame, 2003)
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  • Although Watts probably drew and painted this work directly from the model, as was his practice, Coronio is orchestrated as a half-length figure against a simplified red background to recall Titian's ideal female types such as Flora. The palette of cream, gold, salmon, and red provides a warm ambience for the quiet, dreamy presence of this young woman. Watts also employs that warmth to evoke a sense of living flesh under the rhythmically stroked folds of her sheer bodice. This affective environment, as it enfolds the figure, suggests that behind this serene visage is an interior life that is rich and full. Watts turns Coronio's classically chiseled face in three-quarter view, so that she demurely avoids confronting the viewer's gaze and thereby preserves for her personal space the special, solitary quality of a world apart. At the same time, she is placed so close to think of ourselves as almost sharing her physical space. The possibility of any kind of real intimacy with her is precluded, however, by virtue of the face that the surface, as it is glazed with warm varnishes, distances her psychological remoteness. This paradox is similar to the way in which her sheer bodice--so tactile and so close to use--both suggests her real proximity and her emotional self-containment through its dematerializing concealment of the body beneath it. Coronio's dreaming face finally closes the door on any notion of her accessibility. In this portrait Watts has rendered his friend faithfully, but her also projects her as a paradigmatic image of Victorian femininity which promised a private space of perfect sympathy and comfort for the male body and soul--a promise that was often difficult to realize. This portrait was one of two that Watts painted of Aglaia Ionides Coronio on the occasion of her marriage to Theodore Coronio. One portrait (Watts Museum, Compton, England) went to her father, Alexander Ionides, a wealthy merchant banker, importer, and Greek consul in London, and the other portrait, which undoubtedly is the Snite's, went to her new husband. At the time Watts painted this portrait, Aglaia Coronio would have been about 21 years old. from Snite Museum of Art, Face to Face (Notre Dame, 2003)
  • Although Watts probably drew and painted this work directly from the model, as was his practice, Coronio is orchestrated as a half-length figure against a simplified red background to recall Titian's ideal female types such as Flora. The palette of cream, gold, salmon, and red provides a warm ambience for the quiet, dreamy presence of this young woman. Watts also employs that warmth to evoke a sense of living flesh under the rhythmically stroked folds of her sheer bodice. This affective environment, as it enfolds the figure, suggests that behind this serene visage is an interior life that is rich and full. Watts turns Coronio's classically chiseled face in three-quarter view, so that she demurely avoids confronting the viewer's gaze and thereby preserves for her personal space the special, solitary quality of a world apart. At the same time, she is placed so close to think of ourselves as almost sharing her physical space. The possibility of any kind of real intimacy with her is precluded, however, by virtue of the face that the surface, as it is glazed with warm varnishes, distances her psychological remoteness. This paradox is similar to the way in which her sheer bodice--so tactile and so close to use--both suggests her real proximity and her emotional self-containment through its dematerializing concealment of the body beneath it. Coronio's dreaming face finally closes the door on any notion of her accessibility. In this portrait Watts has rendered his friend faithfully, but her also projects her as a paradigmatic image of Victorian femininity which promised a private space of perfect sympathy and comfort for the male body and soul--a promise that was often difficult to realize. This portrait was one of two that Watts painted of Aglaia Ionides Coronio on the occasion of her marriage to Theodore Coronio. One portrait (Watts Museum, Compton, England) went to her father, Alexander Ionides, a wealthy merchant banker, importer, and Greek consul in London, and the other portrait, which undoubtedly is the Snite's, went to her new husband. At the time Watts painted this portrait, Aglaia Coronio would have been about 21 years old. from Snite Museum of Art, Face to Face (Notre Dame, 2003)
  • Although Watts probably drew and painted this work directly from the model, as was his practice, Coronio is orchestrated as a half-length figure against a simplified red background to recall Titian's ideal female types such as Flora. The palette of cream, gold, salmon, and red provides a warm ambience for the quiet, dreamy presence of this young woman. Watts also employs that warmth to evoke a sense of living flesh under the rhythmically stroked folds of her sheer bodice. This affective environment, as it enfolds the figure, suggests that behind this serene visage is an interior life that is rich and full. Watts turns Coronio's classically chiseled face in three-quarter view, so that she demurely avoids confronting the viewer's gaze and thereby preserves for her personal space the special, solitary quality of a world apart. At the same time, she is placed so close to think of ourselves as almost sharing her physical space. The possibility of any kind of real intimacy with her is precluded, however, by virtue of the face that the surface, as it is glazed with warm varnishes, distances her psychological remoteness. This paradox is similar to the way in which her sheer bodice--so tactile and so close to use--both suggests her real proximity and her emotional self-containment through its dematerializing concealment of the body beneath it. Coronio's dreaming face finally closes the door on any notion of her accessibility. In this portrait Watts has rendered his friend faithfully, but her also projects her as a paradigmatic image of Victorian femininity which promised a private space of perfect sympathy and comfort for the male body and soul--a promise that was often difficult to realize. This portrait was one of two that Watts painted of Aglaia Ionides Coronio on the occasion of her marriage to Theodore Coronio. One portrait (Watts Museum, Compton, England) went to her father, Alexander Ionides, a wealthy merchant banker, importer, and Greek consul in London, and the other portrait, which undoubtedly is the Snite's, went to her new husband. At the time Watts painted this portrait, Aglaia Coronio would have been about 21 years old. from Snite Museum of Art, Face to Face (Notre Dame, 2003)
George Frederick Watts (British, 1817 - 1904)
ca. 1855
Paintings
Oil on canvas
1981.048
female
portraits
women
Raclin Murphy Museum: 109
24 1/4 x 20 in. (61.6 x 50.8 cm)
Noah L. Butkin Fund

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at RMMACollections@nd.edu.