The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Portrait of a Woman

Portrait of a Woman

c. 1795
(British, 1757–1822)
Framed: 8.5 x 7 cm (3 3/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Sight: 7.1 x 5.5 cm (2 13/16 x 2 3/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This miniature has a companion piece, 1941.562.1, although the relationship to the sitters is unknown.

Description

The sitter wears a wide, white ribbon bandeau in her powdered, curly hair, which falls to her shoulders. She has blue eyes and dark brows; a gold earring is visible in her left ear. The bust line of her white cotton gown is trimmed with many layers of ruffles, and she wears a fichu around her neck and shoulders. The background is very pale, with ivory ground visible, but faintly light blue close to the head. This miniature is probably the pendant to 1941.562.1. The female portrait is slightly larger than the male, and both date from c. 1795, the date at which a British woman would have been wearing this type of ruffled muslin gown and a bandeau in her long hair. It is impossible to know for certain if these unidentified sitters were married, but the fact that they are housed in identical frames, which date from the same period as the paintings, suggests that they are a pair. Although husbands and wives often commissioned portraits in miniature simultaneously, the pairs were frequently divided over time through inheritance, loss, breakage, or independent sale. Both miniatures are housed in identical, wonderfully elaborate period gold frames with braided hairwork. The blue glass back of each has a plait of brown hair in its center. The hair incorporated into the framing of each miniature is approximately the same color, suggesting either that the couple had the same color hair or that the same hair was used in each frame. Traditionally it was the hair of the sitter that was mounted with his or her miniature portrait. They are both unsigned, as was typical for Nathaniel Plimer’s works during this period
  • -1930
    (Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), Paris, France, sold to Edward B. Greene)
    1930-1941
    Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1941-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Foskett, Daphne. A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters. London: Faber and Faber, 1972. p. 451
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures ; The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951. Reproduced: p. 29, no. 31, pl. XXIII archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. p. 301
    Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013. Mentioned: p.83
    Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. Cat. no. 54, pp. 218-220
  • Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
    Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 5, 2009 - April 6, 2009).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Woman|url=false|author=Nathaniel Plimer|year=c. 1795|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1941.562.2