Artwork
Portrait of a Lady
Portrait of a Lady is an oil painting. It dates from 1835 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This oil on wood panel depicts a young woman in a dark dress with a white lace collar, her hair neatly styled.
- Accession no.
- 2006.235.242
- Credit line
- Fletcher Fund, 2006
About this work
The wood panel is thin, almost like cardboard, so the artist probably worked fast, maybe in a small town studio.
A young woman in a dark dress looks straight at you. Her collar is white lace, her hair pulled back smooth. The background is plain brown.
Nobody knows who painted her or who she was. The Met bought it in 1943 from a dealer who had no family records. The wood panel is thin, almost like cardboard, so the artist probably worked fast, maybe in a small town studio.
Look up other early American portraits next.
Subject & Meaning
The painting presents an unidentified woman as its central figure, rendered in oil on wood in 1835; the work is classified as a portrait within the American Wing collection and exemplifies the portrait genre of the period. The subject is a solitary female sitter, a common motif in early 19th-century American portraiture, though the sitter's identity and any specific symbolic attributes are not documented. The depiction aligns with contemporary practices of representing women in portrait format, emphasizing realistic likeness rather than allegorical meaning.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on a wood panel support, a traditional combination consistent with small-scale portraiture of the 1830s. Its modest dimensions, approximately 6.4 by 4.7 centimeters, indicate a miniature format suited to private, intimate viewing. The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is catalogued under accession number 2006.235.242.
No additional information regarding the artist's handling, the condition of the panel, or specific stylistic features is documented in the available sources.
Overview
This oil on wood panel depicts a young woman in a dark dress with a white lace collar, her hair neatly styled. She gazes directly forward from a plain brown background. The identity of both the sitter and the artist remains unknown, a common characteristic among many early American portraits.
Its presence in the American Wing suggests its historical context within the nascent art scene of the United States.
History & Provenance
The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired this painting in 1943 from an art dealer. However, the dealer provided no historical records or family documentation regarding the artwork's origins or the identity of the woman depicted. This absence of provenance information contributes to the enduring mystery surrounding both the subject and the creator of the portrait.
Context
The anonymity of both the subject and the artist places this work within a significant category of early American portraiture. During this period, many artists, often self-taught or working regionally, created likenesses for local patrons. While these portraits served an important social function, detailed records of their creation or the lives of their subjects were frequently not preserved, leading to their current enigmatic status.
Artist & collection
