Unknown maker
Anonymous Womanc. 1830
An unrecorded American artist painted this in about 1830. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. More about this work
About this work
The image shows a woman standing upright with a small red book in her right hand. She has a fair complexion, neutral expression, slightly arched eyebrows, and small, rounded lips. Her dark brown hair is styled in an updo with a black accessory. She wears a high-necked dark dress with puffed sleeves and a white collar. The background is plain blue. The woman is not wearing any visible jewelry, and the setting is minimalistic with only the book present.
Description from the National Gallery of Art.
An unrecorded American artist painted this in about 1830. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
How it was made
- Oil on panel
- Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The National Gallery of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1953.5.85
- Credit
- Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Type
- Painting
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
Report this work
Close in colour
