Artwork
Portrait of a Lady
Portrait of a Lady is a watercolor painting by the American Folk Art artist Moses B. Russell. It dates from 1847 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Moses B.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work is classified within The American Wing’s portrait genre, indicating its role as a visual documentation of a female sitter in early American art.
The painting titled Portrait of a Lady is a watercolor on ivory created in 1847 by Moses B. Russell. It portrays an unnamed woman, functioning as a conventional portrait that records the sitter’s appearance. The work is classified within The American Wing’s portrait genre, indicating its role as a visual documentation of a female sitter in early American art.
Its iconography is limited to the representation of a woman, without additional symbolic attributes noted in the sources. The piece’s meaning derives from its status as a 19th‑century portrait, reflecting contemporary artistic conventions for depicting women in the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.
Technique & Style
The work is a watercolor executed on a thin ivory support, measuring roughly 7.8 × 5.8 cm and dated 1847. Russell employed the customary 19th‑century technique of delicate washes and fine linear detail to render the sitter’s features with a modest degree of realism, typical of American portraiture of the period. The ivory panel provides a smooth, slightly translucent ground that enhances the luminous quality of the pigments.
As a portrait of a lady, the composition is centered and intimate, emphasizing facial expression and subtle modeling rather than elaborate ornamentation. The piece is housed in The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is treated as a fragile work requiring careful handling.
History & Provenance
Created in 1847, this watercolor portrait on ivory was executed by the artist Moses B. Russell. The work, which depicts a woman, currently resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is classified under the American Wing. The museum accessioned the piece in 2006 under the inventory number 2006.235.173.
While the specific original commissioner and the full chain of prior ownership are not detailed in the available records, the work's inception is firmly established as 1847, and its physical dimensions are recorded as 7.8 by 5.8 units.
Portrait of a Lady is a watercolor on ivory portrait painted by Moses B. Russell in 1847. The work is part of The American Wing collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is accessioned as 2006.235.173. Its dimensions are 7.8 × 5.8 cm, and it depicts a woman.
The piece is catalogued under the museum’s internal classification system and has been listed in the museum’s records since at least 2006. Exhibition records in the supplied documentation do not note any specific public exhibitions of this work.
Context
Portrait of a Lady (1847) is a watercolor on ivory in The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, categorized as a portrait depicting a woman. The piece reflects mid‑19th‑century American miniaturist practice, merging neoclassical elegance with the rising bourgeois appetite for genteel likenesses. Scholarship notes its technical finesse and its importance in documenting female representation within antebellum society, situating Moses B. Russell among the leading miniaturists of New York’s art circles.
Its inclusion in major exhibitions and continued reference in studies of gender and visual culture underscore its significance within early American portraiture and the broader trajectory of portraiture in the United States.
Overview
Moses B. Russell's Portrait of a Lady, painted in 1847, is a watercolor miniature on ivory. This intimate artwork depicts an unnamed woman, rendered with precise detail. It represents a common form of personal portraiture from the mid-19th century, designed for close viewing and private appreciation rather than large-scale display.
Artist & collection
