Painting of the Day: Cecil van Haanen's Head of a Young Girl, c. 1870

Head of a Young Girl
Cecil can Haanen
Venice, 1870
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Cecil van Haanen ((1844-after 1873) was a Dutch painter who was actually born in Vienna.  The son of the painter Remigius van Haanen (1812-1894), Cecil trained with his father and Joseph Henri François van Lerius (1823-1876) in Antwerp and at the Academy in Karlsruhe in 1863-64. In 1873, Cecil is known to have returned  to Venice and , then, subsequently lived in England and Vienna.  His date of death remains unknown.

This attractive painting is a fine example of Cecil van Haanen's oeuvre--genre scenes especially those of Venetian country life with many collective or single portraits of young Venetian woman.  These portraits were Cecil’s main point of interest and he created a good many of them—trying to capture the naturalness and spontaneity of these young women.

Here, we see the head of a dark-haired, brown-eyed Venetian girl who is depicted looking towards the spectator. She is adorned in a pinkish hat which has been tied under her chin with red ribbons.  Across her shoulders has been draped a white garment.

The broken brushwork is typical of can Haanen’s work., as is the overall brownish red palette.  Touches of pure black, white, and light yellow add interest.