Portrait of Faase, the Taupo, or Official Virgin, of Fagaloa Bay, and Her Duenna, Samoa

6 cm in height by 44 cm in width, a size typical of intimate portrait drawings.

The Portrait of Faase, the Taupo, or Official Virgin, of Fagaloa Bay, and Her Duenna, Samoa (1891) is a mixed-media drawing executed in watercolor, gouache, and graphite on off-white Japanese-type paper. The work measures roughly 58.6 cm in height by 44 cm in width, a size typical of intimate portrait drawings. La Farge rendered a composition that includes a boat, a tree, and a woman, employing delicate tonal transitions and precise line work to suggest three-dimensional form.

John La Farge produced the Portrait of Faase, the Taupo, or Official Virgin, of Fagaloa Bay, and Her Duenna, Samoa in 1891. Executed in watercolor, gouache, and graphite on off-white Japanese-type paper, the piece measures 58.6 cm by 44 cm and is classified as a portrait within The American Wing collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains in the collection.

John La Farge completed Portrait of Faase, the Taupo, or Official Virgin, of Fagaloa Bay, and Her Duenna, Samoa in 1891, executing the image in watercolor, gouache, and graphite on off-white Japanese-type paper. The drawing entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is listed as a portrait within The American Wing. Its subject, a woman with a duenna beside a boat and a tree, illustrates La Farge's fascination with Pacific Island cultures at a time when American artists explored non-European motifs.

Scholars have positioned the work as an example of late-nineteenth-century transnational portraiture, reflecting broader debates about colonial representation.

John La Farge created the watercolor and gouache drawing Portrait of Faase, the Taupo, or Official Virgin, of Fagaloa Bay, and Her Duenna, Samoa in 1891. The work, depicting a Samoan woman alongside a boat and tree, is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing and classified as a portrait. Its presence in a major institutional collection has contributed to scholarly attention on La Farge's cross-cultural subjects and on 19th-century American portraiture that engages with Pacific Island themes.

John La Farge created this watercolor, Portrait of Faase, the Taupo, or Official Virgin, of Fagaloa Bay, and Her Duenna, Samoa, in 1891. Executed with watercolor, gouache, and graphite on Japan-type paper, the work captures a specific moment from his travels. It exemplifies La Farge's interest in portraiture and his adoption of an American Impressionist approach, depicting local figures in a serene island setting with vivid colors and soft illumination.