Portrait of a Lady

No documented commission or artist record survives, and the work is conventionally dated to circa 1820 based on stylistic comparison.

The painting’s early history is documented through a 1928 exhibition catalogue associated with Thomas B. Clarke, who acquired it on 2 August 1921 from the estate of Rose M. de Forest of New York. Before Clarke, the portrait was owned by Mrs. Augustus de Forest, suggesting prior private circulation in New York. Clarke’s collection was dispersed on 29 January 1936 through M. Knoedler & Co., which then sold it to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust in Pittsburgh.

In 1942 the Trust donated the work to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it remains as part of the Andrew W. Mellon collection. No documented commission or artist record survives, and the work is conventionally dated to circa 1820 based on stylistic comparison.

The Portrait of a Lady is held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as part of the Andrew W. Mellon collection. The work was accessioned by the museum in 1942, following its transfer from the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust in Pittsburgh. Prior to entering the national collection, the painting was owned by Thomas B. Clarke of New York, who acquired it from Rose M. de Forest in 1921.

Clarke's estate sold the piece through M. Knoedler & Co. in January 1936. While the sources confirm its long-term residence in the National Gallery of Art, they do not provide a specific inventory number or a detailed list of public exhibitions beyond a reference to a 1928 Clarke exhibition catalogue annotated with dealer records.