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John Singleton Copley
American, 1738-1815
Mrs. Thomas Gage, 1771
Oil on canvas, 50x40 in.

In 1771, Copley left his native Boston for a six-month stay in New York, where he accepted numerous portrait commissions. His first subject was Margaret Kemble Gage, the American-born wife of General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America (who had sat for a portrait by the artist in 1768).

Mrs. Gage wears a turbanlike swath of drapery, a silk caftan over a lace-trimmed chemise, and an embroidered belt - a Turkish-style costume that enhances her languid pose. Such clothing was fashionable at British fancy dress balls, but since masquerade balls were not held at the time in New York, Mrs. Gage would have had no occasion to wear the costume outside the studio. Her faraway gaze suggests pensive thought and intellectuality, implying that she was not preoccupied with trivial matters. This is the first painting in which Copley depicted a woman in such exotic clothing or in such a state of melancholic reverie.

The Timken Museum of Art
http://www.timkenmuseum.org/1-american-copley.html

Martin Johnson Heade
1819-1904
The Magnolia Flower, 1888
Oil on canvas
15 1/8 x 24 1/8 in.

Heade initially became known for his landscapes and still lifes of Brazilian hummingbirds and orchids. Later in life, in 1883, he moved to Florida, which marked an important turning point in his career. Of the new flowers that interested him, the giant magnolia became the chief theme of his late still lifes. While Heade depicted the orchids growing in the jungle, he brought the magnolias indoors to be enjoyed.

In this painting, he gives the voluptuous blossom an added note of luxury by placing it on a generous and striking red cloth. The flower and leaves are perfect, without natural flaws that would mar their surfaces. The color contrasts, the crisp edges of both leaves and petals, and the realistic treatment of light give the forms a strong presence and heighten their symbolic sensuality.


*每次看到木蘭花開在樹上, 總覺得像是許多蠟燭在樹上, 整株形成美麗蠟燭臺