Skip to Main Content

Overview

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I, pages 127-130, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-19th-century-part-1.pdf

Inscription

lower left: T W Dewing / 86

Provenance

Purchased 1889 from the artist by Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts;[1] (sale, Gimbel Brothers, New York, 1946). Dr. and Mrs. Walter Timme, Cold Spring, New York, by May 1947;[2] bequest 1978 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1912
Seventh Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1912, 18, no. 51, , repro. no. 43, as A Lute Player.
1950
Special Exhibition of American Paintings in Honor of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Diamond Jubilee, The Milch Galleries, New York, 1950, no. 4, as Lady with Lute.
1996
The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty Reconfigured, The Brooklyn Museum of Art; National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1996-1997, no. 29, repro.
2015
The Art of Music, San Diego Museum of Art; Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 2015-2016, no. 148, repro. (shown only in San Diego).

Technical Summary

The support is a Winsor and Newton prepared mahogany artist's panel (1.2 cm thick) with the grain running vertically. The reverse is coated with white and gray paint, on which the colormen's label is adhered. The ground is a moderately thick tan layer. The paint layers were applied thinly in most areas, with some more thickly handled passages such as the woman's throat, bodice, and lute. The more thickly painted areas have a scattered, fine crackle pattern. Overall the painting is in excellent condition, with few losses and minimal abrasion. The varnish has yellowed.

Bibliography

1912
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. Academy Notes 7 (July 1912): 49-51, repro. 50.
1925
Handbook of the Art Collections of Smith College. Northampton, Massachusetts, 1925: 15.
1937
Smith College Art Museum Catalogue. Northampton, Massachusetts, 1937: 3, repro. 48.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 143, repro.
1980
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 17, 124, no. 43, color repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 163, 188-190.
1983
Wilmerding 1983, 145, repro. 142.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 20, 144, no. 49, color repro.
1990
Merrill, Linda. An Ideal Country: Paintings by Dwight William Tryon in the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1990: 97, n. 276.
1991
Hiesinger, Ulrich. Impressionism in America: The Ten American Painters. New York: Prestel, 1991, pp. 82, 113, 238, fig. 24.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 158, repro.
1996
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 127-130, color repro.
1999
Koja, Stephan, ed. America: The New World in 19th-Century Painting. Exh. cat. Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna. Munich, London, and New York, 1999: 46, fig. 7 (not in the exhibition).
1999
Muehlig, Linda, ed. Masterworks of American Painting and Sculpture from the Smith College Museum of Art. Northampton, 1999: 10-11, 245 n. 8.
2001
Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2001: 14, fig. 2 (not in the exhibition).

Related Content

  • Sort by:
  • Results layout:
Show  results per page
The image compare list is empty.