This portrait drew me in straight away.
I spotted it when I walked into the Jacques-Émile Blanche exhibit at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, and loved the colouring and the feel of the piece.
And I was further intrigued to read the caption:
“Sir Coleridge Kennard” also titled “The Portrait of Dorian Gray”
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Pardon? Dorian Gray? THE Dorian Gray? Wilde’s Dorian?
I needed to know more.
It turns out that Sir Coleridge ‘Roy’ Kennard was 19 when the portrait was painted by his friend Blanche. Roy was known as a bit of a dandy – it shows, doesn’t it?
Kennard’s mother was friends with Oscar Wilde – but didn’t want her son’s name attached to the portrait, so it was exhibited anonymously as ‘The Portrait of Dorian Gray’
This is so interesting! I love Oscar Wilde and Dorian Gray is my favourite book of all time, so this totally intrigues me.
This is great! I love trivia like this. I also see a bit of Tilda Swinton round the mouth…I love when people in old portraits look like current celebrities/public figures for some reason.
I immediately thought of Dorian Gray when I saw the portrait in my Bloglovin’ newsfeed. I didn’t know Jacques-Emile Blanche but his portraits are not unknown to me. Though he is French, I felt an english influence in his paintings. I am certainly not an expert in this area but I can’t help thinking of England when looking at his work.
Thank you for finally enabling me to discover WHO is Jacques-Emile Blanche !
Shug