Jules-Alexandre Grün (French, 1868-1938)
Portrait in a Sailor Collar
Oil on canvas

Signed lower left Grün, the studio sale stamp on the reverse. 19 x 16 inches (48 x 41 cm), the frame 23 x 20 inches (58 x 51 cm). Modern gilt and black frame with a name plate. Unlined, stable, light surface wear.

Pale green is scrubbed around the head like a halo, the brush pushing the brown ground back until the sitter seems to stand in a patch of light.

A young sitter is shown half length in a dark coat over a wide white sailor collar, a dark bow at the throat, and the collar is the one clean, sharp shape on the canvas. The hair is a single mass of brown laid over the green. The features are drawn in with a fine dark line over the flesh, the eyes set wide and level, while the coat and the ground are dragged and scrubbed in quick strokes, and a touch of orange at the right shoulder is the only warm note anywhere.