A work by American portrait painter Thomas Sully had me wondering if the 19th-century Philadelphian could have had an outsized influence on fashion advertising. Long before Modigliani and best known for his portraits of women, many Sully paintings have an exaggerated neckline. This is the case with this portrait of Mrs. Caspar Wistar Morris (1808) … Continue reading Art Log January 15, 2024: Fashion advertising, sad notes for art education, and the solving of a message mystery