Portrait of a Woman
Jean-Baptiste Isabey (French, 1767–1855)
1835, retouched by the artist in 1843
Medium
Watercolor on vellum
Dimensions
12.3 × 17.4 cm
Classification
Miniature
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Jo Hershey Selden Fund
Accession Number
2018.6
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
French court artist Isabey was accustomed to painting royalty, but here he uses his delicate stipple technique to portray a simply dressed young woman with her books and writing implements. Her sensitivity to the whims of fashion is evident in the fact that eight years after painting her portrait the artist replaced her no longer fashionable “Apollo’s knot” hairstyle with ringlets and added gauzy sleeves to her gown.