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An Unknown Woman

Portrait Miniature
1671 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Portrait, nearly whole-length, of a woman, seated, facing to front and resting her right arm on a plinth. The sitter is wearing a necklace of pearls and has a small dog on her lap. There is a landscape in the right background. Features firmly hatched in brown and sanguine, with black shading at the nose and in the eyes and with highlighting in white, on a pale creamy carnation ground; hair in pale brown wash, lined with darker colour and with the lights in pale gouache; flowers in washes of blue, red and white; dress in pale brown wash, modelled in dark and pale grey with some white lights; mantle in blue wash modelled in black; chemise in white over brown wash; dog in washes of brown and grey; landscape to the right in washes of brown, blue and grey, the lights in off-white; curtain in red wash, modelled in darker colour and with pink for the lights; table in washes of pale and dark grey; the oval drawn in metallic gold and the corners in solid dark brown wash; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Frame: Eighteenth-century ebony-faced mitred frame, rising from straight outer edges into a complex bolection moulding; the flat modern glass is held in a rebate. The ebony is mounted on an oak carcase with lapped joints. The hanger is a Simple brass ring held in a clasp of bent brass nailed to the carcase.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleAn Unknown Woman (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book
Brief description
Portrait miniature of an unknwon woman, watercolour on vellum, painted by the monogrammist D. M., 1671.
Physical description
Portrait, nearly whole-length, of a woman, seated, facing to front and resting her right arm on a plinth. The sitter is wearing a necklace of pearls and has a small dog on her lap. There is a landscape in the right background. Features firmly hatched in brown and sanguine, with black shading at the nose and in the eyes and with highlighting in white, on a pale creamy carnation ground; hair in pale brown wash, lined with darker colour and with the lights in pale gouache; flowers in washes of blue, red and white; dress in pale brown wash, modelled in dark and pale grey with some white lights; mantle in blue wash modelled in black; chemise in white over brown wash; dog in washes of brown and grey; landscape to the right in washes of brown, blue and grey, the lights in off-white; curtain in red wash, modelled in darker colour and with pink for the lights; table in washes of pale and dark grey; the oval drawn in metallic gold and the corners in solid dark brown wash; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Frame: Eighteenth-century ebony-faced mitred frame, rising from straight outer edges into a complex bolection moulding; the flat modern glass is held in a rebate. The ebony is mounted on an oak carcase with lapped joints. The hanger is a Simple brass ring held in a clasp of bent brass nailed to the carcase.
Dimensions
  • Height: 195mm
  • Width: 158mm
Dimensions taken from John Murdoch Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
Content description
Portrait of a woman seated with a dog in a landscape.
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
'DM / 1671' (Signed in gold, centre left)
Credit line
Purchased with funds from the R. H. Stephenson bequest
Object history
Provenance: H E Backer (the dealer), from whom purchased, April1949, with funds from the R H Stephenson Bequest.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic references
  • Murdoch, John. Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1949, London: HMSO, 1961.
Collection
Accession number
P.13-1949

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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