3 Items in this Learning Collection

Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

Portrait of a Lady

Accession Number
1895.35

Title
Portrait of a Lady

Artist(s)
Johann Tischbein

Object Creation Date
1754

Medium & Support
oil on canvas

Dimensions
41 1/4 in x 36 1/2 in (104.78 cm x 92.71 cm);41 1/4 in x 36 1/2 in (104.78 cm x 92.71 cm)

Credit Line
Bequest of Henry C. Lewis

Label copy

The identity of the sitter of this portrait is unknown, but from her elaborate dress we may assume that she was a young woman of rank in the region near Kassel. This painting is unusual in that it has never been relined (the process of adding a second canvas behind the original to give it additional support and strength) and preserves the freshness of the brushwork, particularly in the areas of the lace where the delicate impasto is frequently lost during relining. Johann Valentin Tischbein was a member of a prosperous Saxony-based family of artists. Tischbein spent time in the Netherlands working in Maastricht in 1747 and then at The Hague in 1750, before settling in Kassel as a court painter.

Tischbein’s painting came to UMMA as part of the first large gift of art ever made to the University of Michigan, a gift of over 700 works of art made by Henry Clay Lewis in 1882 (but which didn’t arrive until 1895). The gift helped to motivate the construction of Alumni Memorial Hall where you now stand, which opened in 1910.



Subject matter
Johann Valentin Tischbein was a member of a prosperous Saxony-based family of artists. Tischbein spent time in the Netherlands working in Maastricht in 1747 and then at the Hague in 1750, before settling in Kassel as a court painter.
We do not know the sitter of this portrait, but from her elaborate dress we may assume that she was a young woman of rank in the region near Kassel. This painting is unusual in that it has never been relined (the process of adding a second canvas behind the original to give it support and strength) and preserves the freshness of the brushwork, particularly in the areas of the lace where the delicate impasto is frequently lost during relining.

Physical Description
An elegantly attired young woman is shown in a half-length portrait. Her hands are crossed in front of her at the wrist and she holds a partially open folding fan in her right hand. Her blue silk dress has long lace cuffs and a lace overlay at the shoulders and bodice. The bodice is also ornamented with silk bows of matching silk. At her neck is an elaborate pearl and lace choker; she has a matching pearl bracelet and seed pear earring. Her haif carries the blue of dress in the ornamentation at the crown of her head. Ribbons from her hair ornament cascade down either side of her bosom.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
portrait

Collection Area
Western

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
fans (costume accessories)
figures (representations)
jewelry
necklace
portraits
seated

8 Related Resources

Fashion and Adornments in Global History
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Write for Understanding Tour Overview
(Part of: Writing + Art Enrichment Activities)
Early Modern European Portraits and Self-Fashioning
(Part of 12 Learning Collections)
Portrait of  Lady by Tischbein
(Part of: 18th & 19th Century Western Art)
Unsettling Histories Docent Module
(Part of: Fall 2021 Docent Exhibition Packet)
German inheritance 
(Part of: 18th & 19th Century Western Art)

& Author Notes

Web Use Permitted

On display

UMMA Gallery Location ➜ AMH, 1st floor ➜ 103 (Marvin H. Davidson Gallery)