Eugenie, Viscountess Esher, née Mayer 1852

This is a portrait of Eugenie, Viscountess Esher, painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, a noted portraitist to European royalty. It’s painted in oil on canvas, a very traditional material, but look closely at the Viscountess’s dress. The ruffles and lace are rendered with incredible detail, capturing the texture of fine fabric, clearly a luxury item. Consider the labor involved in creating such a garment: spinning the thread, weaving the fabric, and then the intricate work of the lace-maker. The pearls, too, speak to global trade and extraction. Each element of her attire represents a network of labor, skill, and material resources. The Viscountess becomes an emblem of consumption, revealing the complex social and economic structures behind the image. Seeing the portrait this way – thinking through materials, making, and context – expands our understanding. It challenges the traditional view of fine art as separate from craft, and connects it to the wider world of labor, politics, and consumption.