Portrait of Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford, née Harrington
Medium
watercolor on vellum with gold and silver in original stained ivory case
Dimensions
unframed: 5.3 × 4.2 cm · diameter of frame 5.9 cm
Classification
Portrait Miniature
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Edward B. Greene Collection
Accession Number
1949.547
Tags
About this artwork
Although the identity of the lady is uncertain, she must have been a wealthy woman, judging by her heavy and elaborate jewelry, complete with necklace, chain, earrings, jewel-encrusted dress and a kind of aigrette in her hair. In an age when clothes were assumed to be an accurate indicator of status, it was judged essential to wear your wealth, especially when immortalized in a portrait. Oliver painted the woman's pearl earrings using Nicholas Hilliard's jewelling technique, which involved layin...