Antique Oil on Canvas | Carnig Eksergian (Armenian/American, 1855–1931) Portrait of a Lady

An elegant late 19th- to early 20th-century portrait of a lady by Armenian-American artist Carnig Eksergian (1855–1931), whose known body of work centers primarily on portraiture and figurative painting. The sitter is depicted bust-length against a deep, nearly black background, her softly modeled face and powdered gray hair illuminated with warm highlights. Particularly beautiful is her draped plum, rose and lavender garment, rendered with loose, expressive brushwork that contrasts with the more carefully observed features of the face. The restrained palette and intimate oval format lend the portrait the character of an earlier European portrait while retaining Eksergian's turn-of-the-century painterly handling. Presented in an ornate carved and gilded oval frame with scrolling foliate decoration. Of particular interest, the painting descended directly through the Eksergian family, providing an unusually strong provenance for a work by the artist.

Artist: Carnig Eksergian (Armenian/American, 1855–1931)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Subject: Portrait of a Lady
Framed dimensions: 24 x 20 in.
Provenance: By descent through the family of the artist.