Musidora
1813–35
Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
28 1/8 x 22 1/2 in. (71.4 x 57.2 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Louis Allston Gillet, in memory of his uncles, Sully Gillet and Lorenzo M. Gillet, 1921
Accession Number
21.48
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Musidora** *Thomas Sully, 1813–35 Oil on wood, 28 1/8 x 22 1/2 in. (71.4 x 57.2 cm) The American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art Step into the romantic world of Thomas Sully one of America's foremost portraitists in the early 19th century, *Musidora*. This oil on wood depicts a bathing nude inspired by James Thomson's 18th-century poem *The*, where the shepherdess Musidora is glimpsed in a moment of innocent vulnerability by her admirer. Painted over two decades (1813–35), it reflects Sully's admiration for European academic traditions, blending neoclassical idealism with his signa...
About the Artist
Thomas Sully · 1783–1872
Thomas Sully, born on June 19, 1783, in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to actor parents Matthew Sully and Sarah Chester, emigrated with his family to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1792. Raised in a theatrical environment, young Thomas debuted as a tumbler at age 11 before discovering his artistic talent. He studied miniature painting with his brother Lawrence Sully, brother-in-law Jean Belzon...