The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Portrait of a Woman near a Fountain, a Rose in Her Hand

1680–85

Johan Thopas

(Dutch, 1630–1700)
Netherlands
lead point with accents in black ink on vellum
Support: 33.2 x 25.7 cm (13 1/16 x 10 1/8 in.); Image: 22 x 18.9 cm (8 11/16 x 7 7/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2019.13
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Thopas was both deaf and mute.

Description

The Dutch artist Johann Thopas made meticulous drawn portraits of merchants and intellectuals in the Dutch city of Assendelft. His drawn portraits—made faster and for less expense than painted portraits—appealed to middle-class patrons, as did his unique style combining naturalistic likenesses with elaborate background settings. Using a combination of leadpoint and ink, Thopas achieved remarkable tonal subtlety in this image of a well-dressed woman holding a flower in front of an ornate neoclassical garden.
  • 1914-1918
    Collection Wellesley, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
    June 27, 1922
    Sotheby's, London, England
    June 20, 1928
    Sotheby's, London, England
    Collection Henry Scipio Reitlinger [1882-1950], London, England
    June 22, 1954
    Sotheby's, London, England
    Private Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    March 4, 2019
    the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Foskett, Daphne. A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters. London: Faber and Faber, 1972. Vol. 1, p. 548
    Foskett, Daphne. Collecting Miniatures. Woodbridge, Eng: Antique Collectors' Club, 1979. p. 143
    Ekkart, Rudolf E. O., Johannes Thopas, and Peter van den Brink. Deaf, dumb & brilliant: Johannes Thopas, master draughtsman. 2014. p. 84, fig. 49, cat. no. 61, p. 132
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Woman near a Fountain, a Rose in Her Hand|url=false|author=Johan Thopas|year=1680–85|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.13