William Wonter Painting

I guess I'm guilty of, once again, robotically typing in some art related mumbo jumbo into google images, and picking some random picture a few lines down that for whatever reason grabbed my attention, and then framing this frenzied, hasty series of events as something "deeply personal and moving".  Let's be frank. What's so deep about that? Thus, for this post I'm determined to do some background research to add that needed depth (okay, so the only difference now is the search has shifted from google images to wikipedia, but wikipedia is NOT as bad as everyone says). 

So, it turns out this oil painting is by renowned 18th century portrait painter William Clarke Wontner. I guess you could say he was sort of "behind his times" (in a good way), because instead of jumping on the surrealist bandwagon that was cruising around the bend around the time of his career, he immersed himself in Academic Classicism and Romanticism. 

It can definitely be said his drawing have a weighty classic and romantic vibe, bringing to mind the masterpieces of European painters several hundred years before the man's time. The rich, luminous shading -- a known trademark of oil painting -- exemplifies a technical proficiency not to be taken for granted. He doesn't just ape after his former's formula though -- he brings his own twist of mood and aesthetics -- subtly yet successfully. For instance, ponder the uniqueness and aesthetic merit to the marble wash background.