Portrait of a Girl, c. 1730

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 118.2 x 84.2 cm (46 9/16 x 33 1/8 in.)

framed: 132.4 x 98.4 x 5.3 cm (52 1/8 x 38 3/4 x 2 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Collection

Accession Number

1963.10.144

Artists / Makers

British 18th Century (painter)

Image Use

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Provenance

(Ehrich Galleries, New York).[1] (Sale, Silo, New York, 16 February 1929, no. 378);[2] Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.

[1] A photograph of the painting in NGA Photographic Archives bears an Ehrich Gallery collection stamp.

[2] This information was not included in the provenance published in the NGA systematic catalogue. An additional note on the history of the painting reads: "Picture was left about a year ago at Mr. M. J. Rougeron's, a picture exchange, to be disposed of. Mr. Rougeron could not or would not remember the name of the former owner." These details come from the Chester Dale collection records (on microfilm at the Archives of American Art), and were copied and added to the NGA curatorial files in 1998.

Associated Names

Dale, Chester
Ehrich Galleries
Silo, James P.

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is plain woven; it has been lined. The white ground, consisting apparently of white lead, is smoothly applied and of moderate thickness. The composition is laid out in flat areas of opaque, buttery paint over which the painting is executed in thin layers of rich, fluid paint, with transparent glazes for the damask patterning and to add depth of color. X-radiographs show that the head was originally more fully modeled, the cap once considerably longer on the left, and the hair somewhat shorter on the right. The paint surface is extensively abraded: much of the deep red damask pattern on the dress has been rubbed off, and portions of the thinly painted landscape are worn through. The impasto has been flattened during lining. There are two T-shaped tears just above the girl's right elbow and in the bodice extending down to the waist, which have been retouched with inpainting that has now discolored. There is considerable retouching elsewhere which blends well with the paint. The residues of former varnishes have discolored deeply, and the natural resin varnish has discolored yellow to a moderate degree.

Bibliography

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 20, as British School, Portrait of a Little Girl.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 13, repro., as British School, Portrait of a Little Girl.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 48, repro., as British School, Portrait of a Little Girl.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 22, repro.

1992: Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 313-314, repro. 313.