Cora Richardson (American, 19th C.) Untitled Aesthetic Movement Portrait (The Musician), 1884, oil on canvas, signed and dated. Size: 50.25'' x 33.25'', (128 x 84 cm). Provenance: Rifkin Fine Arts; Collection of Dr. Christine I. Oaklander. Richardson was a student of the sculptor, writer, and anatomist William Rimmer at Cooper Institute's School for Design. Rimmer was director of the school and actively encouraged and shaped the careers of women most of whom are not identified. Since Rimmer died in 1879, Richardson probably studied with him in the 1870s, given the 1884 date of the current figural painting. She exhibited three times at the prestigious National Academy of Design as well as having success exhibiting in Boston. This large painting sits squarely in the period style known as the Aesthetic Movement with its inclusion of Japanese motifs of leaves and flowers. The well-dressed young woman wears an expensive silk dress and a lavishly-decorated hat is laid on a table behind her. Depiction of a sitter with a stringed instrument such as banjo, guitar, or the like is also associated with Aesthetic Movement imagery. Richardson would no doubt have been influenced by William Merritt Chase and John Singer Sargent, known for their lush, confident portraits of wealthy society women dressed in all of their splendor. Accompanied by a folder of printed material chronicling the artist's career. Richardson is a rediscovered woman artist who has unjustly fallen into obscurity.

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