Beauty Revealed

Beauty Revealed is a watercolor portrait miniature on a thin ivory support, a technique common for American miniatures. The ivory's translucency allows light to pass through, creating a soft, ethereal glow. Goodridge modeled the breasts with subtle gradations of color and shade, achieving a three-dimensional effect, and included a beauty mark on the proper right breast with stippled pink nipples.

The frontal view crops the body from the collarbone to just under the breasts, focusing attention on the torso. A swirl of pale, light-reflecting cloth frames the breasts, enhancing their prominence. The miniature originally had a paper backing inscribed with '1828' and is now mounted in a modern frame.

The handling, thin washes of pigment on polished ivory, gives the surface a tactile quality that echoes the depicted flesh.

Sarah Goodridge completed Beauty Revealed in 1828, painting the watercolor-on-ivory miniature likely while viewing herself in a mirror. She presented the self-portrait, depicting only her bared breasts, to Senator Daniel Webster after the death of his first wife, possibly as an intimate token or to encourage marriage. Despite this, Webster married another woman.

After his death, the miniature remained with Webster's descendants until the 1980s. It was auctioned at Christie's in 1981, where it was purchased by collectors Gloria and Richard Manney. In 2006, the painting entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the Manneys' donation of hundreds of miniatures.

Beauty Revealed is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, acquired in 2006 as a gift from collectors Gloria and Richard Manney, who had purchased it at auction in 1981. The painting was included in the traveling exhibition "Tokens of Affection: The Portrait Miniature in America" (1991–1992) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. It later featured in the museum’s 2008 exhibition "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions."

Sarah Goodridge (1788–1853) was a prolific Boston miniaturist trained under Gilbert Stuart and Elkanah Tisdale. Completed in 1828, Beauty Revealed stands as a rare American nude from the early 19th century, a period when such subject matter was controversial and largely confined to mythological or Native American depictions. Art historian Dale Johnson praised the work as 'strikingly realistic,' while critic Chris Packard noted its idealized youthfulness achieved through harmony of light and color.

The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History connects the miniature to contemporary European 'lovers' eyes,' suggesting Goodridge played with the convention of anonymizing the sitter to conceal her identity. John Updike interpreted the painting as an erotic offering to politician Daniel Webster, with whom Goodridge had a long-term relationship. The work is now recognized as a singular example of early American self-portraiture that challenges period norms of modesty and artistic expression.

After its rediscovery, Beauty Revealed was auctioned at Christie's in 1981 for $15,000 and acquired by collectors Gloria and Richard Manney. It gained broader recognition in the 1991 traveling exhibition 'Tokens of Affection: The Portrait Miniature in America' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2006, the Manneys donated their miniature collection, including Beauty Revealed, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The work was featured in the 2008 retrospective 'The Philippe de Montebello Years' at the Met, where critic Holland Cotter highlighted it. It later inspired the 2009 novel 'Blindspot' by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore. Curators at the Met described it as the most overwhelming of the 'odd and wonderful miniatures' in the Manney collection.

Sarah Goodridge's 1828 self-portrait, Beauty Revealed, is a watercolor miniature on ivory. This intimate work, measuring only 2.6 by 3.1 inches, presents a close-up view of the artist's bared breasts emerging from white fabric. Created when Goodridge was forty, the small scale and personal subject matter make it a notable example within the tradition of portrait miniatures, challenging conventional representations of the self.