Lady Borlase

c. 1672/1675

Gerard Soest

Associated Names
Gerard Soest

Painter, Dutch, c. 1601/1602 - 1681

This painting depicts a woman facing the right, either standing or seated. She has fair skin, pink cheeks, pale eyebrows, blue eyes, and pink lips in a neutral expression. Her hair is curly and voluminous, styled back in two bunches with ringlets falling over her shoulders. It is gray towards the roots, but the ends appear to be brown. She is wearing a luxurious, gold-colored satin gown with draped white sleeves and a white undershirt peeking out at the neckline. The skirts bunch around her, obscuring her lower body. A single strand of pearls adorns her neck, and we see one dangling pearl earing. In one hand, she holds a blue fabric by her side. In the other, she is holding a small dish shaped like an oyster shell that catches a small stream of water that comes from the top right of the painting, seeming to emerge from a dark rocky shape on the right side. On the right, the background includes dark green  foliage under a cloudy blue and gray sky.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Gray

  • Dimensions

    overall: 127 x 103.2 cm (50 x 40 5/8 in.)
    framed: 142.9 x 119.7 cm (56 1/4 x 47 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1977.63.1


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased London c. 1929 by Mrs. Bowman Gray, as Lady Warrender by Lely;[1] by descent to Gordon Gray, Washington; gift to NGA, 1977.
[1] Certificate by William Roberts, 29 April 1929, a copy of which is in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 378, repro., as Portrait of a Woman

1992

  • Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 254-257, color repro. 255.

Wikidata ID

Q20177641

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