Miss Grace Woodhouse

John Singer Sargent, 1890

Shown from about the knees up, a young woman with pale skin, wearing a long, flowing, peachy-pink satin dress, looks at us in this vertical portrait painting. Her shoulders are slightly angled to our left, and she gazes out with dark gray eyes set in an oval face. She has a long, narrow nose, smooth skin, and her pink lips are closed. Her light brown hair is pulled up and twisted into a loose bun high on her head, and a curl hangs down the center of her forehead. A pearl necklace rests at the base of her neck. Her dress has a low, sweeping neckline and short, fluttering sleeves. The peach of the fabric almost blends in with the color of her skin in some areas. The dress has a tightly fitted bodice around a notably narrow waist, which is tied with a gold sash and bow. A gold ribbon from the bow on the side of her waist leads to another farther down her skirt, near her left knee, to our right. More gold bows are tied atop her shoulders. The deep folds of her peach skirt are shaded with darker coral streaks. The two orchids she holds at her chest are mostly white but they have a couple of pale, lavender-purple petals, and each has a deep magenta-pink tongue. The background lightens from coppery brown along the top to a golden tan along the bottom. Some areas of the portrait are loosely painted, especially in the skirt and background. The artist signed the painting in the upper left corner, “John S. Sargent” and dated it in the upper right, “1890.”
Artist
John Singer Sargent
Date
1890
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
162.9 × 94 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

Shown from about the knees up, a young woman with pale skin, wearing a long, flowing, peachy-pink satin dress, looks at us in this vertical portrait painting. Her shoulders are slightly angled to our left, and she gazes out with dark gray eyes set in an oval face. She has a long, narrow nose, smooth skin, and her pink lips are closed. Her light brown hair is pulled up and twisted into a loose bun high on her head, and a curl hangs down the center of her forehead. A pearl necklace rests at the base of her neck. Her dress has a low, sweeping neckline and short, fluttering sleeves. The peach of the fabric almost blends in with the color of her skin in some areas. The dress has a tightly fitted bodice around a notably narrow waist, which is tied with a gold sash and bow. A gold ribbon from the bow on the side of her waist leads to another farther down her skirt, near her left knee, to our right. More gold bows are tied atop her shoulders. The deep folds of her peach skirt are shaded with darker coral streaks. The two orchids she holds at her chest are mostly white but they have a couple of pale, lavender-purple petals, and each has a deep magenta-pink tongue. The background lightens from coppery brown along the top to a golden tan along the bottom. Some areas of the portrait are loosely painted, especially in the skirt and background. The artist signed the painting in the upper left corner, “John S. Sargent” and dated it in the upper right, “1890.”

John Singer Sargent