Beauty Revealed
1828
Medium
Watercolor on ivory
Dimensions
2 5/8 x 3 1/8 in. (6.7 x 8 cm)
Classification
Painting, miniature
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Gloria Manney, 2006
Accession Number
2006.235.74
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the intimate realm of 19th-century American miniature portraiture, Sarah Goodridge *Beauty Revealed* (1828) stands as a daring self-portrait. This tiny watercolor on ivory, measuring just 2 5/8 x 3 1/8 inches, captures the artist baring her breasts against a dark velvet-like background, emerging as a bold act of personal revelation. Goodridge, a skilled miniaturist working in Boston, crafted this piece at a time when female nudes were exceedingly rare in American art, making it one of the earliest known examples by a woman. The medium of watercolor on ivory was ideal for such delicate, lum...
About the Artist
Sarah Goodridge · 1788–1853
Sarah Goodridge (1788–1853) was a pioneering American miniaturist whose exquisite portrait miniatures captured the likenesses of prominent figures during the early republic. Born on February 5 in Templeton, Massachusetts, as the sixth of nine children to farmer Ebenezer Goodridge and Beulah Childs, she displayed artistic talent from childhood despite limited resources. Largely self-taught, she ske...