{
"data": {
"id": 173240,
"accession_number": "1920.3919",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Portrait of a Woman (Judith Colman Bulfinch?), c. 1734. John Smibert (Scottish, 1688\u20131751). Oil on canvas; framed: 94 x 81 x 6 cm (37 x 31 7/8 x 2 3/8 in.); unframed: 75.6 x 62.2 cm (29 3/4 x 24 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection, 1920.3919",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Portrait of a Woman (Judith Colman Bulfinch?)",
"creation_date": "c. 1734",
"creation_date_earliest": 1729,
"creation_date_latest": 1739,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"America"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "American Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "American - Painting",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 94 x 81 x 6 cm (37 x 31 7/8 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 75.6 x 62.2 cm (29 3/4 x 24 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 0.94,
"width": 0.81,
"depth": 0.06
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.756,
"width": 0.622
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 312517,
"title": "The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition",
"description": "The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).",
"opening_date": "1936-06-26T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Louisville, J. B. Speed Memorial Museum, Colonial and Later American Portraits (6-29 May 1947)",
"opening_date": null
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "family of the sitter",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Emily Hallowell, Mass.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "family of the sitter, to Emily Hallowell, Mass.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"3919.1920"
],
"did_you_know": null,
"description": "The appearance of a professionally trained British painter in the American colonies in 1729 marks a curcial point in the history of American art. Smibert not only imported the skills necessary to convey the impression of substantial, rounded forms in a picture, but his commercial success also inspired others to contemplate careers as painters. Born in Edinburgh and schooled in London and Italy, Smibert attracted numerous clients upon his arrival in Boston. The low bodice, long neck, and sinuous curl of hair in this portrait follow British conventions for depicting women. Research continues as to the identity of the sitter, long thought to be Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch (born Judith Colman, 1707-1765), since that name does not appear in Smibert's recently discovered records.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117230235",
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60482621"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1920.3919-portrait-of-a-woman"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "L. P. \"Smibert's Portrait of Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 8, no. 1 (1921): 3-7.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: pp. 3-7",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25136439"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 525",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n97"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 155",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n179"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 155",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n179"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 197",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n217"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1920.3919",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1920.3919/1920.3919_web.jpg",
"width": "734",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "384022",
"filename": "1920.3919_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1920.3919/1920.3919_print.jpg",
"width": "2793",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "1592445",
"filename": "1920.3919_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1920.3919/1920.3919_full.tif",
"width": "3512",
"height": "4276",
"filesize": "45075400",
"filename": "1920.3919_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 173240,
"creators": [
{
"id": 6633,
"description": "John Smibert (Scottish, 1688\u20131751)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1688",
"death_year": "1751",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1920-12-30T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1729,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1734",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch (?)",
"Portrait of Mrs. Thomas Bulfinch"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:04:06.835000"
}
}