Portrait of a Woman
1701
Medium
Plumbago on vellum
Dimensions
Oval, 4 1/4 x 3 1/4 in. (107 x 82 mm)
Classification
Miniatures
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1944
Accession Number
44.36.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 18th-century portrait mini with *Portrait of a Woman* by Thomas Forster, created in 1701. This delicate oval work, measuring just 4¼ x 3¼ inches, captures the sitter's poised elegance in plumbago—a fine graphite medium—drawn on vellum, a smooth parchment made from animal skin. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art European Paintings department and classified as a miniature, it exemplifies the era's fascination with tiny, jewel-like artworks perfect for lockets, brooches, or private collections. Thomas Forster, an English miniaturist active around the turn of...