Artwork Page for A Woman from the Arctic

Details / Information for A Woman from the Arctic

A Woman from the Arctic

1826

Léon Cogniet

(French, 1794–1880)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
oil on fabric
Measurements
Framed: 62.9 x 57.2 x 8.9 cm (24 3/4 x 22 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.); Unframed: 42.5 x 36.5 cm (16 3/4 x 14 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Noah L. Butkin 1980.249
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

When this painting was shown in an 1826 exhibition, the accompanying catalogue stated that it was "painted after nature." Although Léon Cogniet never traveled to North America, he may have encountered a native person from the Arctic. In 1820, an American sea captain, Samuel Hadlock, met two Inuit from Labrador, George Niakungitok and Mary Coonahnik, who accompanied Hadlock on a tour of America and Europe. The tour, an early example of a commercial show presenting people from lesser-known parts of the world to paying European audiences, concluded in Paris in 1826. The show also included a panoramic view of Baffin Bay (located between northeast Canada and Greenland) that may have inspired the cloudy sky and ice formations in Cogniet's painting.

A Woman from the Arctic

1826

Léon Cogniet

(French, 1794–1880)
France, 19th century

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