Artist
Adam Buck(Irish, 1759–1833)Irish, 1759–1833
CultureIrish
Titles
- Portrait of a Woman
Date1805
MediumWatercolor on ivory, gilt, and glass
DimensionsOverall: 3 1/8 × 2 3/4 in. (7.9 × 7 cm)
Credit LineThe Rienzi Collection, bequest of Caroline A. Ross
Object number2005.1631
Non exposé
Explore Further
Department
RienziObject Type
Irish artist Adam Buck was deeply interested in classical Greek and Roman vase painting. To give a Neoclassical feeling to this miniature, his subject is shown in elegant profile on a draped chaise.
The vividly colored, almost stormy sky, balances the cool sensuality of the languid figure. The woman in this portrait wears the revealing neoclassical attire made popular at Napoleon´s court. Her sleeveless white gown, held at the shoulder with a Wedgwood cameo brooch, and her loose gather of curls à l´antique, were the height of fashion in the early 1800s.
Provenance[Earle D. Vandekar, New York, Collection of Edward Grosvenor Paine, Primrose Plantation, Oxford, lot 19]; purchased by Caroline Ross, October 15, 1996; bequeathed to MFAH, 2005.
Exhibition History"Love Tokens: Portrait Miniatures from the Caroline A. Ross Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 3, 2007-March 3, 2008.
"Ireland: Art on a World Stage, 1690-1840," Art Institute of Chicago, March 17–June 7, 2015
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.
Charles Hénard
c. 1785
Watercolor on ivory, gilt, tortoiseshell, and glass
2005.1619
Nathaniel Rogers
c. 1820
Watercolor on ivory in gilt frame with brass mat
2018.467