Portrait of a Lady
James Sanford Ellsworth
ca. 1850
Medium
Painting-Miniature
Classification
Painting-Miniature
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mary Elizabeth Spencer
Accession Number
1999.27.14
Tags
waist length
About this artwork
These miniatures display James Sanford Ellsworth’s unique approach to painting his sitters. They are shown in profile, seated in a Victorian armchair with their hands crossed. The chair appears to dissolve into a swirling arabesque, with a “clover-leaf” halo surrounding the sitter’s head and cloudlike forms in the background.