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Woman in Black Dress
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The identity of this sitter is unknown. On the eve of marriage, young women often had their portraits made, and this portrait likely marked that event. The woman wears a fine dress ornamented with an elaborate lace collar, and a gold and jade chain with a miniature painting hangs around her neck (Face to Face: M.W. Hopkins and Noah North, Museum of Our National Heritage, 1988). Her sober expression and elaborate hairstyle, worn “up” as a matron would do, help to convey a sense of gravity at a turning point in her life.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionCredit lineWoman in Black Dress. ca. 1835-1840. M. W. Hopkins, born Harwinton, CT 1789-died Williamsburgh, OH 1844. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson. CC0.
