Collection Online
Peonies and head of a woman

Peonies and head of a woman
(c. 1887)

Medium
oil on canvas

Measurements
40.7 × 65.0 cm

Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Joseph Brown Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2004

Gallery location
Gallery 20
Level 3, NGV Australia

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About this work

This relatively small, freely painted work reflects Russell’s experience of Japanese art, placing the woman’s head, almost certainly his wife, Marianna, below and behind the dominant branch of flowering peonies. The artist’s intention is the creation of a richly coloured surface pattern, with space suppressed, and the figure almost incidental. The picture clearly relates to a group of works painted in 1887, with the head of the sitter set against a background pattern of flowers.

Artwork Details

Place/s of Execution
Longpré-les-Corps-Saints, Picardy, France

Accession Number
2004.218

Department
Australian Painting

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation

Subjects (general)
Human Figures

Subjects (specific)
flora (plants) flowers (plant components) peony profiles (figures) women (female humans)

Frame
Reproduction, 2013, based on earlier photographs

Frame

John Russell’s Peonies and head of a woman, 1887, came into the NGV collection in a reproduction of a Louis XIV corner and centre frame with false gold finish.
The decision to reframe the painting came in preparation for the exhibition, Australian Impressionists in France in 2013.
The re-framing was undertaken to re-introduce a relationship between the painting and frame that would reflect the choice of the artist and the period of the painting's production. It coincided with the re-framing of a number of paintings by John Peter Russell in the collection.
The overall appearance of many exhibitions of this period is a mixture of dark, white timber and gilded frames of varying moulding widths.
The final prototypes for the frame were determined through discussion and the frame eventually made and finished in the studios of the NGV.

The painting was cleaned and restored in 2013.

Frame Details

Framemaker
Reproduction - crafted by the NGV

Date
2013

Materials

timber and paint

Colourmen

Colourman
REY & PERROT

Location of stamp
Right side reverse of canvas

Transcript
COULEURS FINES & TOILES A PEINDRE/TABLEAUX/REY & PERROT/PARIS/51. Rue de la Rochefoucauld. 51

Medium
Ink stamp

More Information
National Portrait Gallery