# Woman in a Red Dress

**Anna Claypoole Peale** (born Philadelphia, PA 1791-died Philadelphia, PA 1878)  
1821  
watercolor on ivory  
sight 3 x 2 1/2 in. (7.7 x 6.3 cm) oval

Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999.27.29. [The museum's record](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=38358).

## About this work

This miniature is housed in an elegant red leather case with a green velvet lining, colors that compliment the sitter’s pale complexion and richly colored gown. Although the cut of her bodice is more restrained than an English dress might be, the sitter wears her hair piled high and curled in ringlets around her face, like many English women of the day.

_Text from the Smithsonian American Art Museum._

Anna Claypoole Peale painted this in 1821, aged 30. It is now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

### How it was made

- **Watercolour on ivory.** Thin sheets of ivory gave watercolour a luminous, skin-like glow, which made them the favourite support for portrait miniatures from the early 1700s.
- **Watercolour.** Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.

### [Anna Claypoole Peale](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/anna-claypoole-peale)

born Philadelphia, PA 1791-died Philadelphia, PA 1878

## Facts

- Type: Painting-Miniature
- The artist was 30
- Real size: about 3 × 2½ in (8 × 6 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Women, Portraits
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1994.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1994/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/woman-in-a-red-dress-si-saam-1999-27-29).