This document analyzes the painting "The Masquerade Dress" by Robert Henri. It examines the key characteristics including the form and composition, materials and techniques, lines, colors, textures, space, mass and volume, perspective and foreshortening, and proportions and scale. The painting depicts a vertical, full-view portrait of a woman in a patterned dress, rendered in Henri's painterly oil on canvas style. Her pale colors stand out against the dark background, and the vertical lines emphasize her height while the train of her dress accentuates her volume within the bare studio space.

1. “Analyzing a Painting”VPA 114 Modern Art in the City Robert Henri: The Masquerade Dress, oil on canvas, 76 1/2 x 36 1/4 in., 1911 (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art); photo © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

2. Characteristics to Analyze Form & Composition Material & Technique Line Color Texture Space Mass & Volume Perspective & Foreshortening Proportion & Scale

3. Form & Composition Vertical, Full-view portrait Subject is mostly centered in the painting with one arm off to the side The bottom half of the subject is turned just slightly askew and one toe of her shoe peeks out from below her dress.

4. Material & Technique Oil on Canvas Painterly style Realistic yet the viewer can still see the brush strokes

5. Line The painting has many vertical lines The lines on the dress reinforce the height of the subject and seem to lengthen her The lines of the gold bands around the dress match the gold bands in her hair.

6. Color The colors of the subject are generally rather pale and gold and make the reddish hair and reddish-pink lips really stand out. The washed out palette of the subject is in stark contrast to the dark background devoid of any objects.

7. Texture The textures of this painting stem from the painterly style of the artist as well as the patterned fabric of the subject. The gold bands of the dress and in the hair have highlights that bring to mind a metallic texture.

8. Space This painting has a strong vertical alignment. The subject is in a space devoid of any objects – a bare artist’s studio, perhaps.

9. Mass & Volume The subject is a linear mass – very long and lean The train at the bottom of the dress accentuates what volume and space the character might take up.

10. Perspective & Foreshortening The point of view of the artist seems to be from a slightly elevated position due to the angle we see the skirt at the bottom of the dress and the moment where the floor and the wall meet. Even so, the viewer feels that they are meeting the eyes of the subject at eye level.

11. Proportion & Scale This painting is nearly life-size and would feel like a painting of grand scale The subject fills a great deal of the canvas and thus is monumental. There is no doubt that she is the subject and featuring her figure and her portrait is the point of the entire painting.

12. Characteristics to Analyze Form & Composition Material & Technique Line Color Texture Space Mass & Volume Perspective & Foreshortening Proportion & Scale Good Luck with your own Analysis!