Portrait of a Young Lady
American, circa 1845
Oil on canvas, framed, 41 ¼ x 31 ¼ inches

Her name has been lost, but the young woman herself remains remarkably present. Fashionably dressed in the restrained style of the 1840s, she sits with an unusual sense of ease and quiet confidence. Her relaxed pose and the landscape beyond soften the formality of portraiture of the period. At just over forty-one inches high, the portrait has a commanding presence, but much of its pleasure is discovered at close range.

There, the artist’s confidence becomes apparent. Broad, painterly strokes that read effortlessly as flesh, silk, and hair from across the room reveal themselves as surprisingly free passages of color. You can almost follow the loaded brush across the canvas: a few broken touches of warm pigment become a gold chain; quick strokes and daubs of white become transparent lace. The painter knew when enough was enough, trusting the viewer’s eye to complete the illusion.

Anonymous nineteenth-century portraits survive in abundance. Portraits with this much personality—and this much pleasure in the painting itself—are rather harder to find.

$3,800