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Open 10:00–5:00

National Gallery of Art

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

    Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights

    Through September 5

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    America’s 250th

    Celebrating American art and artists

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Support
  • Shop
  • Become a Member

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

    Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights

    Through September 5

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    America’s 250th

    Celebrating American art and artists

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Support
  • Shop
  • Become a Member

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  • Open 10:00–5:00
  • See extended hours

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    3. Mrs. Sumner Welles
    Provenance

    Mrs. Sumner Welles

    Welles, Mathilde Townsend

    died 1949

    Explore selected works

    Artwork

    A young woman with pale, peachy skin, wearing a long, silvery blue dress with a rose-pink train looks out at us in this vertical portrait painting. She stands in front of a topaz-blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds, which are shaded with shell pink and light lilac purple. Her body faces our left in profile and she turns her smiling, oval-shaped face to us. She leans her torso slightly forward. Her light brown hair is loosely piled on her head. Her gray-blue eyes are framed by delicate brows, and she has an aquiline nose, rosy cheeks and lips, and a long, elegant neck. Light glints off the dress she wears, suggesting is silk or satin. It has a low, straight neckline and the short, fluttery sleeve we can see falls off her shoulder. A long, billowing swath of light pink fabric is attached to the back of her dress, possibly with a large bow, and it drapes in lively folds down and around the front of her skirt. She holds it lightly with both hands at her thighs. She wears a thin gold bracelet on her left wrist, closer to us, and a silver ring on the third finger of that same hand. The portrait is loosely painted, especially in the clothing, so the texture of the brushstrokes is visible in many areas. The artist signed the work with brick-red paint in the upper left, “John S. Sargent” and dated the upper right, “1907.”
    John Singer Sargent, Miss Mathilde Townsend, 1907, oil on canvas, Gift of the sitter, Mrs. Sumner Welles, 1952.3.1

    Miss Mathilde Townsend

    Miss Mathilde Townsend

    John Singer Sargent · 1907 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.3.1

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      4th St and Constitution Ave NW
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      7th St and Constitution Ave NW
      Washington, DC 20565

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