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Paintings

Portrait of a Woman with a Bowl of Cherries

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Type
Paintings(Opens in new tab)
Date
ca. 1770-1780
Accession number
L2015.41.172
Maker
Unknown, American(Opens in new tab) (American)
Dimensions
frame: 28 x 23 x 2 1/2 in. (71.1 x 58.4 x 6.4 cm.)
Medium
oil on panel
Description
Vertical three quarter length portrait of the woman in black dress with white lace collar and blue bow; she raises a bunch of cherries in her left hand with the red bowl on an table top center foreground; American school.
Credit
Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection
Department
American Art
Find out more
View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)
The cherries, associated with fertility, suggest that this is a marriage portrait, and the elegant lace-trimmed dress reinforces the matrimonial associations. This work bears a strong resemblance to the portraits of Dutch landowners, known as patroons, who colonized the Hudson River Valley. The background's lively repeated arc pattern is distinctive but perplexing: is it a hilly landscape, wallpaper in a dark interior, or something else?

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