The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 24, 2024

Portrait of a Woman

Portrait of a Woman

1620s
(Dutch, c. 1570–1657)
Framed: 86.5 x 77.5 x 7 cm (34 1/16 x 30 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 53.2 x 45 cm (20 15/16 x 17 11/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The sitter wears several transparent and translucent white collars that become opaque when layered.

Description

How do you conserve a painting when portions are missing?

The mid-treatment image (below) shows the painting after cleaning, when earlier restorations had been removed. In the painting on view, notice how the conservator reconstructed portions of the sitter’s lace collar and elaborate necklace. She re-created missing passages after studying the artist’s technique in other works and carefully emulating his treatment of the remaining lace and elements of the twisting, three-dimensional necklace. Conversely, there was not enough information to reconstruct what was probably another ornament at the back of the sitter’s head, so the decision was made not to speculate and invent something in that space.
  • Dowdswell, London, United Kingdom
    (Durand-Ruel, Paris, France and New York, NY)
    -1916
    Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade, Cleveland, 1902, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.
    1916-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Reproduced: p. 26 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 33 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition : June Twenty-Sixth to October Fourth 1936. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1936. Reproduced: p. 226
    Jonge, Caroline Henriette de. Paulus Moreelse: portret- en genreschilder te Utrecht, 1571-1638. Assen: Van Gorcum & comp. n.v., uitgevers, 1938. Reproduced: p. 111, cat. no. 213
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 252; Reproduced: p. 253
  • Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    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).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Woman|url=false|author=Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn|year=1620s|access-date=24 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.1055