Maud Powell

Brewer, Nicholas R. (1857-1949)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1918-1919

Height:

148.0 cm  (58 1/4 in.)

Width:

122.8 cm  (48 3/8 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on canvas

Description

Violinist Maud Powell was a child prodigy who gave her first public performance when she was eight. After study in Leipzig, Paris, and Berlin, she became well known through solo performances at orchestral concerts in Europe and the United States. In 1894 she formed the Maud Powell String Quartet, which debuted at Carnegie Hall. That year she also became the first instrumentalist to record for the Victor Talking Machine Company on the prestigious Red Seal label. Between 1905 and 1919 she made more than seventy recordings, which have recently been re-released. When Powell came to sit for this portrait, she brought her 1775 Guadagnini violin and suggested that the artist arrange "an unconventional costume." He selected a gown that had belonged to an opera star, and noted that "of course, the violin with its beautiful red color had to be in the picture." (National Portrait Gallery description)

People as subjects

Powell, Maud (1867-1920) (Musician portrait)

Iconclass

48C723
portrait of a musician

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Violin [3573]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

RIdIM record id

5108