Woman in Profile on Patterned Floor

Dateca. 1835

Attributed to Joseph H. Davis (1811-1865)

OriginAmerica, Maine or New Hampshire (probably)

MediumWatercolor and pencil on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 8 5/16 x 6 1/4in. (21.1 x 15.9cm) and Framed: 11 x 8 9/16in.

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1935.300.1

DescriptionStanding full-length figure of woman in profile facing right. She has a black dress with glossy black highlights, a white collar, and is wearing from her neck a long gold chain on which a pendant, possibly a portrait miniature, hangs. Her face is drawn with pencil with just a touch of color at the lips and eye, she has black hair with a tortoise shell comb in it. Spray of rosebuds in right hand and an open book in outreached left hand. Carpet (or floor) is pale yellow with black dots and lines of salmon pink, red, light brown, and black in oval configurations.
Label TextThis uninscribed portrait of a woman in profile is a modest example of Davis's formula for single figure subjects. His likenesses in this format often bear identifying inscriptions in margins below the images; this specimen may have been trimmed, or Davis may have deleted the space for reasons we can only surmise.
ProvenanceFound in Boston, Mass.; purchased by Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY; purchased from Halpert by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; given to CWF in 1939 by Rockefeller