Portrait of a Woman at a Harpsichord (c. 1788): Art, History and Details

Portrait of a Woman at a Harpsichord (c. 1788) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is François Dumont (French, 1751–1831).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of a Woman at a Harpsichord
• Date: c. 1788
• Creator attribution: François Dumont (French, 1751–1831)
• Culture: France
• Type: Portrait Miniature
• Technique: watercolor on ivory in a 19th-century stamped gold and gilt metal frame
• Dimensions: Diameter: 7.3 cm (2 7/8 in.); Diameter of frame: 9.3 cm (3 11/16 in.)
• Collection: P - French 18th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1942.1139

Collection credit

The Edward B. Greene Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures; The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.