Victoria Sunbathing

I love the mood of this painting, how it takes you to the place of sunbathing on hot summer's day. The texture and the color palette are also phenomenal!

Jonathan McAfee’s Victoria Sunbathing is a sunny, personal, and slightly provocative take on the classical notion of portraiture. Portraits are funny in art history because they come with many connotations that do not necessarily prove true but are still widely accepted, even in the art world. Some of the most recognizable tropes of portraiture can be found in Victoria Sunbathing: intimacy and humanity. The artist and subject in the present painting are not strangers. They know each other and can impart some of their familiarity through this relationship. If they had been strangers, and this was more a voyeur style portrait, a fascinating study of how a person unaware of their illustrator’s presence acts when they believe themselves to be unobserved. But I have always found portraits where the artist and sitter have a connection more interesting because it results in a more collaborative artwork. Victoria, and the pose and expression she chooses, makes her part of the creative process behind this lovely portrait.