Painted from memory, this portrait depicts Florine Stettheimer's aunt, who had died sixteen years earlier. Caroline Walter Neustadter stands tall in a velvet and silk gown dripping with lace — a material Stettheimer loved to paint. The lavish decor, which Stettheimer evoked in thick, swirling paint, reflects the interior design of 1910s high society, from the statue at left, a common and exoticized European depiction of a Black North African person, to the towering floral arrangement on an elaborately carved pedestal. These elements also contain biographical clues. Look closely at these decorative details to find the artist's signature and message to her beloved aunt.
