id: 121267
accession number: 1942.1139
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.1139
updated:
Portrait of a Woman at a Harpsichord, c. 1788. François Dumont (French, 1751–1831). Watercolor on ivory in a 19th-century stamped gold and gilt metal frame; diameter: 7.3 cm (2 7/8 in.); diameter of frame: 9.3 cm (3 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Edward B. Greene Collection 1942.1139
title: Portrait of a Woman at a Harpsichord
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: c. 1788
creation date earliest: 1785
creation date latest: 1789
current location:
creditline: The Edward B. Greene Collection
copyright:
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culture: France, 18th century
technique: watercolor on ivory in a 19th-century stamped gold and gilt metal frame
department: European Painting and Sculpture
collection: P - French 18th Century
type: Portrait Miniature
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* François Dumont (French, 1751–1831) - artist
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measurements: Diameter: 7.3 cm (2 7/8 in.); Diameter of frame: 9.3 cm (3 11/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: signed right: Dumont. fc
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America
opening date: 1993-03-26T04:00:00
Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).
title: Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives
opening date: 2013-11-10T00:00:00
Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* Four Centuries of Miniature Painting, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950. January 18-March 19, 1950.
Main European Rotation (Gallery 202), July 18, 2011 - January 30, 2012.
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
We do not know the identity of this elegantly dressed woman who plays a sonata on the harpsichord. There are two copies of this miniature that are attributed to other artists (Peter Adolphe Hall and Marie Christine Campana), and both identify the sitter as Sophie Arnould, a highly acclaimed French soprano. Dumont was fond of using objects in the space around the sitter to express her character—a common practice in portraits—so it is possible that this woman was a musician. To play a musical instrument well was considered an essential feminine accomplishment for an aristocratic woman during the eighteenth century, and like her fashionable dress, communicates the sitter's grace and charm to the viewer. This miniature was probably painted around 1788, on the eve of the French revolution, and the year that Sophie retired from the stage at the age of 48. Unknown sitters are oftentimes later identified as persons who were well-known or fashionable during the period when the work was painted, and it is difficult to know conclusively.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures; The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951.
page number: Reproduced: plate XXVIII, no. 60; Mentioned: p. 34
url: https://archive.org/details/PortraitMiniatures/page/n75
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1139/1942.1139_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1139/1942.1139_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.1139/1942.1139_full.tif