Mrs. Walter Rathbone Bacon (Virginia Purdy Barker, 1862–1919)  1897

Zorn found a loyal and enthusiastic clientele among upper-class Americans like Virginia Bacon and her family. Her brother-in-law, Edward, commissioned this portrait along with one of himself, now also in The Met (19.112). Virginia sat for Zorn in 1897, during his third visit to the States. With assured, fluid brushwork and soft color harmonies, he portrayed his sitter in a...