The artist’s daughter Mary in a red hat by Franz von Stuck

Combining childhood freshness with stylized theatricality, this portrait of a young girl charms through its coloristic vitality and mysterious appeal. Entitled “The artist’s daughter Mary in a red hat”, this delicate creation signed by Franz Stuck immortalizes the features of a child dressed in a Spanish-style costume. The painter combines the sweetness of a childish face with the rigor of a composition framed in intense hues.

Presented in bust length facing the viewer, the little girl with dark eyes and rosy cheeks gazes at the observer with charming gravity. Her head is topped with an immense crimson red velvet bonnet trimmed with bushy white feathers tied under her chin with a light ribbon. She wears a matching red dress adorned with a sparkling white pleated collar encircling her neck. In her right hand placed in the foreground, she firmly holds a silver rattle or small scepter embellished with bells. The background treated with brushed, textured gray paint creates a vibrant setting that sets off the bright red fabrics.

Franz Stuck displays a prodigious talent in contrasting materials between velvet, feathers, and chased metal. His command of oil on canvas gives the child’s face a velvety radiance of admirable realism and poetry.