Unfinished

Leonardo da Vinci, "La Scapigliata," oil on wood, ~1507

There is something fascinating about unfinished art. When we see a work that the artisthas left incomplete, for whatever reason, one of the first things that occurs to most people is why. Why didn't the artist finish? What compelled her or him to put it aside in favor of something else? Did the artist mean to return to the piece and couldn't? Some works are simply abandoned, of course. Leonardo da Vinci was notorious for failing to complete works once begun. Even though fewer than 20 paintings are attributed to him, a significant number of those remained unfinished. Leonardo's failure to complete works frustrated and angered his patrons, of course. For those of us who came after him though, the unfinished works provide insights into his working methods and allow us to infer his thought process. In the case of the barely begun "La Scapigliata" (Lady with Tousled Hair), the work was sketched in with rapid strokes of umber and then the features modeled with white. At 8x10 or so the small work is more likely to have been a sketch than anything else, since it is essentially a close up of only a face and shoulder.

Elizabeth Shoumatoff, "FDR unfinished," oil, 1945

Sometimes a work is left incomplete because the painter no longer had access to the subject or scene. A famous example is the unfinished portrait of President Franklin Roosevelt, begun the morning that he died at lunch and left unfinished. She later did a similar finished portrait--half length--essentially from memory.

Alice Neel, "James Hunter," oil on canvas 1965

Another quite famous portrait by Alice Neel remained unfinished for a similar reason--the sitter never returned. Although the portrait was to be a seated, full-length image, she was only able to boldly paint the head and outline the remaineder. The portrait is poignant because the young man had just been drafted and was likely headed for Viet Nam.

Gilbert Stuart, "George Washington," 1796

The last painting for this post is the famous portrait of George Washington, by Gilbert Stuart. The original, life-sitting portrait was left unfinished and used by Stuart as source material for many many copies that he sold for handsome sums. This original is the source of the image of Washington on the U.S. one dollar bill.

So the next time you see an unfinished painting in a museum, stop and take a look. There are fascinating lessons and interesting stories behind those seemingly failed works.