An Interesting Story (Miss Ray) by William Wood

William Wood · 1806-01-01

This is An Interesting Story (Miss Ray), painted in 1806 by the American artist William Wood. It hangs now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. On first look, it is a gentle Regency portrait of a woman absorbed in a book. The actual story around the painting is far darker.

Look at her face and hand. Wood gave her the classic gesture of deep contemplation: her chin rests on her fingers, and the faint flush in her cheek suggests the book has stirred real feeling. The white muslin sleeve and the soft red of the chair locate her in a comfortable domestic interior, a world of private thought. But the painter who worked so carefully on those delicate fabrics and that pensive profile was about to lose everything.

William Wood was a New York portraitist building a respectable career. In 1808, two years after this canvas, he was convicted of forgery. The sentence was death. Wood was executed in 1809. An Interesting Story is considered his last known work, painted just before his life collapsed entirely.

We do not know for certain who the sitter was, or what she was reading that moved her so. But the quiet absorption Wood captured now carries an unbearable weight: it is the final moment of stillness from an artist whose story was about to end in violence.

Details

In 1806, an American painted this woman lost in a book.

Her hand on her chin. She's not just reading. She's feeling it.

The painter was William Wood, a rising name in New York.

This quiet reader is his last known work.

Transcript

In 1806, an American painted this woman lost in a book. Her hand on her chin. She's not just reading. She's feeling it. The painter was William Wood, a rising name in New York. Three years later, he made a decision that ended everything. In 1808, Wood was convicted of forgery. He was sentenced to death. This quiet reader is his last known work.