Peter Paone, Portrait of a Woman After Jan Antonisz Van Ravensteyn

Paone’s version of Dutch master Jan Anthonisz van Ravesteyn’s Portrait of Gertrude Tedingvan Berkhout playfully distorts the woman’s features and surroundings, satirizing the techniques that artists use to make a person seem important. Her stiff body, brightly colored and flattened costume, and unnatural facial expression give the painting a sense of humor that borders on the absurd.

The gestural and soft brushwork of the woman’s face contrasts with that of her clothing and background, which is much flatter and more geometric. Paone’s use of intersecting lines and interlocking shapes creates a lace pattern that is like a flat plane of forms extending over the sitter’s body.

Paone is a Philadelphia artist renowned for his depictions of what he calls “reality reassembled.” He maintains a home and studio in the Mount Airy section of the city.