Created from high-quality wood, milled with simple clean lines and presented with a satin finish. Includes an off-white mount that will not discolour or fade with age. - Simple, elegant design - Premium, fine art paper with a gently textured surface - Handmade by specialist picture framers - FSC certified off-white mat / window mount - Delivered ready for hanging

"The Lost Felice" fervently captures a haunting elegiac essence through its stark and intimate portrayal of a monk-like figure. Set against a muted, almost somber backdrop, the painting showcases a prominently robust male figure wearing a robe, with a profound expression that combines introspection and sorrow. The backdrop is equally significant, featuring minimalistic forms and a subdued palette dominated by earthy tones—mainly deep browns, ochres, and grays—enhanced by subtle highlights that bring a sense of depth and texture to the canvas.

The man’s facial features are heavily stylized with an almost mask-like rigidity, suggesting timeless grief or loss. His eyes, though painted with little detail, encapsulate an intense, introspective melancholy that echoes the thematic weight suggested by the title. The figure's bodily posture is rigid, almost as if carving out a solemn stance in reverence or mourning.

Palette and Technique:
Hartley employs a restrained yet powerful use of color, effectively using light to cast soft shadows and highlight planes on the figure's face and attire. The brushstrokes are deliberate and textured, creating a tactile resonance that enhances the emotional gravity of the subject.

Symbolic Undertones:
Considering Hartley's personal experiences, the title "The Lost Felice" evokes an aura of personal grief. The name "Felice" is suggestive of a personal loss, though it remains unclear whether it refers to a specific individual or an abstract representation of lost happiness or contentment.

Original Painting Location:
"The Lost Felice" by Marsden Hartley is part of the collection at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, located in Washington, D.C. This museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution and renowned for its extensive collection of modern and contemporary art.

Artist Background and Career Context:
Marsden Hartley (1877-1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. His body of work is known for its deep emotional resonance and diversity in style, influenced significantly by European avant-garde movements, as well as the American landscape and vernacular culture.

Fit into Artistic Movements and Career:
"The Lost Felice" comes from a period in Hartley's career where his work became intensely personal and emotionally charged. After moving back to America from prolonged stays in Europe, Hartley's later works, including those around 1939, leaned towards expressing profound personal loss, spirituality, and identity.

During the late 1930s, Hartley's experiences of loss—most notably from the 1936 drowning of the Mason family brothers in Nova Scotia, with whom he had formed a deep personal bond—permeated his art with themes of mourning and memorial. Although "The Lost Felice" does not directly reference the Mason tragedy, the emotive imagery alludes to the period's overarching themes of solitude and elegy.

Noteworthy Details:
- Personal Symbolism: The painting’s emotional gravity is often seen as Hartley's exploration of personal and metaphysical grief.
- Stylistic Elements: The somber tone references his affinity for mysticism and spirituality, employing simplification of forms and a muted palette to convey profound, often ineffable emotions.
- Hartley's Legacy: This piece exemplifies Hartley's later work and is a critical testament to his evolution as an artist focusing on the introspective and the emotional aspects of human experience.

In summary, "The Lost Felice" is a powerful work that encapsulates Marsden Hartley's deep emotional and spiritual engagements, rendered with a somber, contemplative approach that resonates with personal grief and broader human conditions.