Elbridge Ayer Burbank (American, 1858-1949)

Portrait of a Woman, Munich, 1892

oil on canvas

Collection of Rockford Art Museum

Gift of Miss Annie Wheeler

Born in Harvard, IL, Elbridge Ayer Burbank studied at the Chicago Academy of Design from 1874-1876. In 1889, he travelled to Munich, Germany to continue his studies. At the time, Munich was one of the primary places to study art in Europe, overshadowed only by Paris, France. It was during his studies in Munich that Burbank painted ‘Portrait of a Woman, Munich’. The painting was described by the Chicago Tribune in 1893 as follows, “At A.H. Abbott & Co.’s is exhibited a strong portrait of a young woman by Elbridge Burbank. It is a young woman in white, seating in a white chair, and posed against a background of white drapery. The rendering of the different qualities of white in a symphony of this kind is a most difficult feat of painting, and in this Mr. Burbank has been most successful.”

This piece is one of our favorites from our American Masters collection and is currently on view along with 8 other traditional paintings. The galleries are closed today but plan to come see this gorgeous oil on canvas work when we’re open: Thursday through Sunday from 10 to 5; admission is free.