The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 23, 2025

Oil painting of a woman with light skin tone, shoulders turned slightly to our left but looking out at us with light brown eyes and a faint smile. She wears an elaborate dress with multiple layers of sheer, white collars fringed in lace, a red-petaled flower at the center of her chest, and three rows of pearls around her neck. Her brown hair, slightly grey at front, is pulled back, with a circular gold and jewel ornament in it, while she wears a matching, triangular earring.

Portrait of a Woman

1620s

Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn

(Dutch, c. 1570–1657)
Netherlands
oil on wood
Framed: 86.5 x 77.5 x 7 cm (34 1/16 x 30 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 53.2 x 45 cm (20 15/16 x 17 11/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade 1916.1055
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The sitter wears several transparent and translucent white collars that become opaque when layered.

Description

How do you conserve a painting when portions are missing?

The mid-treatment image (below) shows the painting after cleaning, when earlier restorations had been removed. In the painting on view, notice how the conservator reconstructed portions of the sitter’s lace collar and elaborate necklace. She re-created missing passages after studying the artist’s technique in other works and carefully emulating his treatment of the remaining lace and elements of the twisting, three-dimensional necklace. Conversely, there was not enough information to reconstruct what was probably another ornament at the back of the sitter’s head, so the decision was made not to speculate and invent something in that space.
  • The painting underwent a comprehensive examination and conservation treatment in 2020. During the examination it was discovered that two panels flanking the central panel were not original to the painting. These panels were added during a previous restoration when the painting was cradled and likely converted into an oval format. The previous restoration, executed in oil paint, extended the sitter’s costume by repeating the decorative chain and lacework designs out to the edges of the nonoriginal flanking panels. This inventive overpaint was later damaged by a previous cleaning attempt before entering the CMA collection. Photos during cleaning reveal the extent of the prior damage to the nonoriginal panels, while the original central panel was in relatively good overall condition. Following consultation with CMA paintings conservators and curators, the decision was made to reconstruct damages to the former restoration, unifying the well-preserved original central panel with the nonoriginal flanking panels.
  • Dowdswell, London, United Kingdom
    (Durand-Ruel, Paris, France and New York, NY)
    -1916
    Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade, Cleveland, 1902, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.
    1916-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Reproduced: p. 26 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 33 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition : June Twenty-Sixth to October Fourth 1936. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1936. Reproduced: p. 226
    Jonge, Caroline Henriette de. Paulus Moreelse: portret- en genreschilder te Utrecht, 1571-1638. Assen: Van Gorcum & comp. n.v., uitgevers, 1938. Reproduced: p. 111, cat. no. 213
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 252; Reproduced: p. 253
  • Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Woman|url=false|author=Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn|year=1620s|access-date=23 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.1055