Portrait of Miss Pollock in a White Dress

In this portrait, a young woman wearing an elegant white gown sits in a wooded landscape with a sketchbook on her lap. Drawing was considered an appropriate activity for upper class women, who would have received instruction at home, through a tutor or a drawing master. Knowledge of art and cultivation of some amateur skill were considered markers of a young woman's refinement. Women of the lower classes, who had to work, could not afford the time or money for drawing lessons. With a simple clue like this, the artist signals his sitter's place within society.