Matilda Stoughton de Jaudenes

The portrait captures sixteen-year-old Matilda Stoughton, a New England merchant's daughter, at the time of her marriage to Spanish diplomat Josef de Jáudenes. Her attire, a fashionable silk gown, pearls, diamonds, and a coronet-shaped headdress, serves as a clear visual declaration of her elevated social standing and new identity within the Spanish aristocracy. The composition deliberately emphasizes this newfound opulence.

Gilbert Stuart rendered this oil on canvas portrait with a commanding physical presence, measuring approximately fifty by forty inches. The background features loosely painted drapery, contrasting with the detailed depiction of the sitter. Scholars have identified the work as an example of the "Grand Manner," a stylistic choice that notably diverged from the more restrained and sober aesthetic typically preferred by Stuart's American clientele during this period.

Created in 1794, this portrait was conceived as a pair with a depiction of Josef de Jáudenes, also held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After the couple's return to Spain in 1796, where they settled in Majorca, an elaborate coat of arms and a Spanish inscription, including Stuart's signature, were added to the canvas by a different artist. The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired the painting in 1907 through the Rogers Fund.