A Woman from the Arctic
Medium
oil on fabric
Dimensions
unframed: 42.5 × 36.5 cm · framed: 62.9 × 57.2 × 8.9 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Noah L. Butkin
Accession Number
1980.249
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
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 o...