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Mary Sears (later Mrs. Francis Shaw)
Joseph Florentin Léon Bonnat (French, 1833–1922)
1878
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
126.4 x 75 cm (49 3/4 x 29 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Miss Clara Endicott Sears
Accession Number30.766
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Mary Sears came from a prominent Boston family with close ties to Paris, spending much time in the French capital where she posed for this portrait in Bonnat’s studio. One of the most acclaimed portraitists of his time, Bonnat chose to display Miss Sears’s portrait at the Paris Salon in 1879. It later hung in the Sears’ family home in Beacon Hill in Boston. The young woman’s deep blue day dress reflects the style of noted Parisian couturier Charles Frederick Worth, whose designs set the bar for fashion in Parisian society.
InscriptionsLower left: Ln. Bonnat / 1878
Provenance1878, Knyvet Winthrop Sears (b. 1832) and his wife, Mary Peabody Sears (b. 1836), Boston (original commission) [see note 1]; by inheritance to their daughter, Clara Endicott Sears (b. 1863 - d. 1960), Boston; 1930, gift of Miss Clara Endicott Sears to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 4, 1930)
NOTES:
[1] They were the parents of the sitter. According to information provided by the donor, Clara Endicott Sears (sister of the sitter), this portrait was painted in Bonnat's studio in Paris. Notes in the curatorial file indicate that it was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879 (no. 341, as "Miss M. S.").
NOTES:
[1] They were the parents of the sitter. According to information provided by the donor, Clara Endicott Sears (sister of the sitter), this portrait was painted in Bonnat's studio in Paris. Notes in the curatorial file indicate that it was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879 (no. 341, as "Miss M. S.").