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Source Description
Stories of women, jewels, and pearls, popular when this painting was first exhibited in 1826 in London, help to explain this enigmatic portrait. Pearls were especially associated with purity; in classical myth, they were believed to be the droplets of water that Venus, the goddess of love, shook from herself when she was born out of the sea. Thinking of ancient Rome, a viewer might have recalled the story of Cornelia, who when asked to show off her jewels, virtuously pointed to her children.Shee, a fashionable portrait painter, chose his subjects from the worlds of the theatre and high society. Although the sitter is identified only as Miss Moffat, this portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy (no. 72) in London in 1826. Four years later, Shee was elected president of the Academy.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
21190
label
Portrait of Miss Moffat
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
21190
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Portrait of Miss Moffat
description
Stories of women, jewels, and pearls, popular when this painting was first exhibited in 1826 in London, help to explain this enigmatic portrait. Pearls were especially associated with purity; in classical myth, they were believed to be the droplets of water that Venus, the goddess of love, shook from herself when she was born out of the sea. Thinking of ancient Rome, a viewer might have recalled the story of Cornelia, who when asked to show off her jewels, virtuously pointed to her children.Shee, a fashionable portrait painter, chose his subjects from the worlds of the theatre and high society. Although the sitter is identified only as Miss Moffat, this portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy (no. 72) in London in 1826. Four years later, Shee was elected president of the Academy.
provenance
Sale, Christie's, London, June 10 1899; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, before 1901; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
date
1826
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
oil paintings (visual works)
portraits
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
91.8
height
71.5
dimensionsRaw
H: 36 1/8 x W: 28 1/8 in. (91.8 x 71.5 cm); Framed H: 46 1/4 × W: 38 7/16 × D: 3 9/16 in. (117.4 × 97.6 × 9 cm)
Source extras
med
oil on canvas
creator_ids
3483
collection_ids
EAN
exhibition_ids
1954
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
2577ce923dc5b5ac
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
dad997ebc93fde58
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no