Henry O. Tanner

Grafly and Tanner (1859-1937) were friends from their student years, first in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later in Paris at the Académie Julian. Grafly, who became Philadelphia's most influential academically trained sculptor, modeled this bust during his second trip to Paris in 1896. The painted plaster, the first in his series of portraits of fellow artists, features hallmarks of the Beaux-Arts style: loose and vital surface treatment coupled with a highly naturalistic likeness. The portrait was a gift of friendship to Tanner, who enjoyed a successful career as an expatriate painter of religious scenes. Tanner displayed the bust in his Paris studio, and his son Jesse subsequently presented it to the Metropolitan.