Nicolas Sinebrychoff 

Eero Järnefelt painted this portrait of Nicolas Sinebrychoff with oil on canvas in 1902. The smooth surface and blended brushwork give the painting a formal quality, fitting for a bourgeois subject. Oil paint, of course, is a material closely tied to the history of capitalism. Its capacity to mimic textures, as we see in the rendering of Sinebrychoff’s suit, has always made it perfect for the representation of status. But Järnefelt’s technique here is particularly interesting. He uses the paint almost as if it were enamel, building up thin layers. This is a laborious process, requiring skill and patience. You can sense the amount of work involved, and it is work very different from the gestural application of paint in a more expressionistic mode. The result is a portrait that is cool and composed, a testament to the artist's craft, and to the sitter’s social position. So, next time you look at an oil painting, remember that you're not just seeing an image, you're also seeing the product of considerable handwork, embedded in a social and economic context.