Social Sharing

Portrait of Arabella Worsham (later Arabella Huntington)

1882

Not on view

Sporting a gown of
claret-colored velvet and her signature spectacles, “Belle” Worsham strikes a
commanding figure in this portrait by the French Academic artist Alexandre
Cabanel. He was a professor at the state arts school and a recipient of various
prizes at the Salon, as well as a popular portraitist for American millionaires
visiting Paris. Born Arabella Yarrington, this sitter would become one of the
great collectors of the gilded age, thanks to her marriage to the railroad
magnate Collis P. Huntington, whose death in 1900 left her the richest woman in
America. Their son, Archer Huntington, donated this portrait of his mother to
the Legion of Honor.

Artist: Alexandre Cabanel (French, 1823 - 1889)
Title: Portrait of Arabella Worsham (later Arabella Huntington)
Date: 1882
Object Type: Painting
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 85 1/4 x 50 1/2 in. (216.5 x 128.3 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Archer M. Huntington
Accession Number: 40.3.11

Sacramento, Old Governor’s Mansion, 1964–1984. Collection loan.

San Marino, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, May 6–July 2, 2006. “The Belle of San Marino: Introducing Arabella Huntington,” no cat. no.

Montpellier, Musée Fabre, May 26, 2010–January 1, 2011. “Exposition Alexandre Cabanel."

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 15, 2015 – May 1, 2016. “Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age: George A. Schastey,” no cat. no.
“Nouvelles artistiques,” Le Figaro, November 13, 1882, pg. 1.

Esmont, Henry, “A Travers les Arts,” Journal des Artistes, November 24, 1882, pg. 2.

Asleson, Robyn, British Paintings at The Huntington, San Marino, CA; The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2001, pg. 32, repr. pg. 34, fig.11.

Chrisman-Campbell, Kimberly, “Arabella Unveiled,” The Huntington Calendar (May / June 2006), pg. 2, repr.

Quodbach, Esmee,“The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65, no. 1 (Summer 2007), pg. 22, fig. 20.

Rawles, Susan Jensen, “Expatriates and the Gilded Age,” in American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, eds. Elizabeth L. O’Leary, et. al., Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2010, pg. 210, fig. 119.

Webster, Sally, “Fables of Abundance,” The Magazine Antiques 179, no. 6 (November/December 2012), pg. 111, repr., pg. 114.

Slipek, Edwin, “Beyond the Boudoir,” Style Weekly, January 10, 2012: https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/beyond-the-boudoir/Content?oid=1653029.

Bennett, Shelley M., The Art of Wealth: The Huntingtons in the Gilded Age, San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, pg. 53, repr. pg. 55, fig. 1.41.

Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney and Nicholas C. Vincent, “Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 73, no. 3 (Winter 2016), pg. 7, repr. pg. 8.

Currently on view

Lux Aeterna, 1914

Gottardo Piazzoni

de Young collection items
The Road Near the Farm, 1871

Camille Pissarro

Legion of Honor collection items
The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, 1626

Simon Vouet

Legion of Honor collection items

New acquisitions

Numbers and Trees: Tanzania Series 1, Baobab, Tree #9, Iramba, 2025

Charles Gaines
Untitled (Pei Kené 1), 2022

Sara Flores
While the Night hides and the Shadow seeks, 2024

Rupy C. Tut

Social Sharing

Provenance

Exhibition History

Bibliography