An iconic New Zealand artist, Charles Frederick Goldie is most commonly known and celebrated for his portraits of Maori. Depicted in a romantic idiom, Goldie’s portraits of Maori illustrate his belief that he was representing the last of a race of people who were soon to die out or be completely assimilated. In addition to this body of work, Goldie also completed an admirable number of masterful portraits of European sitters that, as well as fulfilling specific portrait commissions of high-profile figures such as Sir Maurice O’Rourke, also included personal sitters as in the present painting: Sorrowful Moments, a portrait of Violet Elsie Goldie, the Artist’s Sister. The present painting was executed following Goldie’s return to New Zealand after five years in Paris and is one of a number of portraits of his family members from this time which also included his mother Maria Goldie (née Partington) and his younger brother, Frank Percy Goldie. Goldie’s sister Violet also features as the subject of an attractive contemporaneous Conté crayon drawing. Drawn directly onto a page in her autograph book, the drawing shows Violet wearing similar attire to that seen in the current painting with a low neckline and exposed décolletage, and is now held in the permanent collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

In this portrait, Goldie has painted his sister Violet in a strict profile pose with head slightly bowed to the right and this strikes a picture of restful tranquillity. The bust-length format of the painting obviates the potential for distracting details and focuses attention on the physicality and temperament of the sitter. It also serves to heighten the immediacy of the work by diminishing the distance between viewer and subject. However, while this close proximity could potentially be confrontational, Violet’s contemplative disposition renders her oblivious to the presence of the spectator which, in turn, causes the painting to be wholly and pleasantly quiescent. It is this air of quietude that is so fittingly captured by the poetic title of the piece and which also may have been a subtle reference to the fact that she remained unmarried.

Goldie’s ability to aptly capture and express something of the interiority of the sitter is testament to his close relationship to his sister. Seated in front of a wooden screen with gilded horticultural detailing, Violet is lightly wrapped in a swathe of diaphanous white fabric. The stylised floral patterning of the screen and the choice of rich amber hues locates the painting within the then highly popular and influential style of art nouveau, which Goldie is likely to have experienced in Paris. Light glances across Violet’s hair and plays across her face, casting a slight shadow onto her décolletage. Violet’s unassuming pose, the absence of ostentatious dress or adornment and her tilted head combine to produce an intimate image of a woman deep in thought or reflection. Indeed, Violet’s pose with turned head and downcast eyes imbues the portrait with a faintly pensive or nostalgic air, but it is one that is finely tempered by Goldie’s handling of both light and chromatic tonalities.

Executed with a high level of finish, Goldie’s Sorrowful Moment is an excellent example of his artistic virtuosity, containing, as it does, all the celebrated hallmarks of his style with its finely wrought brushwork, marked attention to detail and palpable level of realism. Goldie completed the work with an almost photographic veracity and he leaves only the smallest trace of his brush, which serves to heighten the allure of the portrait in its capacity as a painted aesthetic object. Utilising mimetic brushwork to achieve an enticing level of verisimilitude, Goldie displays his remarkable ability to distil a living presence onto the two-dimensional surface of the painted canvas while retaining elements of the presence and character of the individual.

In executing this painting at the turn of the 20th century, Goldie reveals his debt to earlier 19th-century European masters of illusion such as Jean-Leon Gerome and Adolphe Bouguereau with his infinitesimal brushwork, soft golden light and simple yet adroit compositional structure. Employing a honeyed palette and filtered light, Goldie crafts an aura of monumental calm and, in conjunction with the reserved and decorous nature of his sitter, combines them to produce an enchanting and pleasing portrait.

Jemma Field