Portrait of a Woman  1849

Depicted in three-quarter length, the subject turns slightly to the left. Her hairstyle, pulled back in a bun with a cascade of corkscrew curls along the side of the head, was fashionable on both sides of the Atlantic and helps date the portrait to the 1840s. Although she demurely directs her eyes downward, there is strength of character in the young woman's clear gaze and...