Maria Cecilia Louisa Cosway

after 1787

after Valentine Green after Maria Cosway

Associated Names
Valentine Green

Artist After, British, 1739 - 1813

Maria Cosway

Artist After, British, 1759 - 1838

The image displays a woman from the waist up, seated with her arms crossed. She gazes directly at the viewer with a soft expression. She has fair skin, arched eyebrows, and slightly parted lips. Her hair is styled in tight curls with a light blue turban. She wears a white ruffled garment with a high collar and long sleeves. A pastel lavender sash is wrapped around her, and she has a black ribbon or piece of jewelry around her neck. Gold drop earrings are visible. The background is muted brown and seems to suggest a horizon over water. She sits on a richly colored chair.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    color photogravure inked à la poupée on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Estate of John Ellerton Lodge

  • Dimensions

    plate: 47.2 × 34.5 cm (18 9/16 × 13 9/16 in.)
    sheet: 58.6 × 46.8 cm (23 1/16 × 18 7/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1964.18.6

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Whitman 1902, no. 130, State ii/iii

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1988

  • Graphic Survey Show, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., June 1988.

Bibliography

1884

  • Smith, John Chaloner. British mezzotinto portraits, being a descriptive catalogue of these engravings from the introduction of the art to the early part of the present century. 4 vols. London: Henry Sotheran and Co., 1884.

1902

  • Whitman, Alfred. British Mezzotinters: Valentine Green. London: A.H. Bullen, 1902.

Inscriptions

recto: in plate, below image, at left: Painted by Maria Cosway; in plate, below image, at right: Engraved by V. Green, Mezzotinto Engraver to his Majesty, and to the Elector Palatine.; in plate, below image, at center: M.rs Cosway. / Published by V. and R. Green, Newman Street, Oxford Street, London, Sepr. 1st. 1787; at upper left in graphite in later hand: Order 3830 Frame 1266 [upsidedown]; at bottom right in graphite in later hand: B22.763; verso: none

Markings

recto: none; verso: National Gallery of Art

Watermarks

fleur-de-lis in shield surmounted by crown

Wikidata ID

Q65512263

You may be interested in

Loading Results