Portrait of Katharine Elliot (died 1688)
c. 1680 - c. 1700
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
76.3; 2.9; 4.3; 63.4
About this artwork
buitenmaat: diepte 4,3 cm (drager incl. SK-L-3414)
Art Historical Context
In the Rijksmuseum, John Riley’s “Portrait of Katharine Elliot” captures a quiet moment from late seventeenth-century Britain. Painted in oil on canvas around 1680–1700, the work depicts Katharine Elliot, who died in 1688. Riley, an English portraitist active during the Restoration, favored a straightforward, unidealized style that recorded sitters with honest detail rather than courtly flattery. Oil on canvas was the favored medium of the period, prized for its ability to render the sheen of silk, the softness of lace, and the subtle modeling of flesh. At roughly 76 by 63 centimeters, the pa...