Open full image Pin

The Cholmondeley Ladies

Unknown

1600

oil

panel

From the collection of Tate Britain

Early Baroque Italian Baroque Portrait

Dominant colour

About this work

This painting depicts two women, each holding a baby, sitting on a couch. They wear elaborate white ruffs and dresses, with the woman on the left adorned in gold jewelry. The babies are wrapped in red blankets with intricate gold and white patterns. The women's faces are serene, and their hands gently cradle the babies. The couch is white, and the background is dark, which creates a sense of intimacy and focus on the subjects. The use of chiaroscuro, a technique that uses strong contrasts between light and dark, adds depth and volume to the figures.

The story of this work

Overview

The Cholmondeley Ladies (pronounced CHUM-lee) is an early-17th-century English oil painting depicting two women seated upright and side by side in bed, each holding a baby. Measuring 88.6 by 172.3 centimetres (34.9 in × 67.8 in), it was painted on four joined panels of oak, probably in the first decade of the 17th century. According to an inscription in gold lettering to the bottom left of the painting, it shows "Two Ladies of the Cholmondeley Family, Who were born the same day, Married the same day, And brought to Bed the same day." At first sight, the two women and their two babies appear…

Read the full account in the museum source.

Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.