A woman with pale skin, wearing a shimmering, azure-blue gown, stands next to a child with a pale pink complexion, wearing a flame-red suit in this vertical portrait painting. The woman stands at the center of the composition with her body angled to our left, but she looks at us from the corners of her brown eyes. She has a straight nose, softly arched brows, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. A hint of a shiny silver earring pokes through brown ringlets, and one curl falls over one shoulder. Two long, white feathers droop off the side of her wide brimmed, black hat. The bodice and full skirt of her blue dress are trimmed with bands of gold along the hems, down the sleeves, and down the front of the skirt. The blue fabric is covered with short, diagonal strokes of lighter blue. White fabric covers the front of her bodice under a tall, wide, stiff, lacy white collar that extends from her chin to her shoulders. Two rose-pink bows are tied on the white fabric on her chest. The cuffs of her elbow-length sleeves have layers of white ruffles. She touches her skirt with her left hand, to our right, and with the other touches a monkey on the boy’s shoulder. To our left, the boy’s body faces us but he looks up at the woman with dark eyes. He has rounded cheeks, and his lips are parted in a slight smile. His shoulder-length blond hair reaches to his wide, lacy collar. His red suit has long sleeves, and the coat is buttoned down the front. Ivory-white gloves reach back over his forearms, and the tops of his knee-high, fawn-brown boots are folded over. He raises his left arm, closer to the woman, to hold a monkey on a tether. The monkey stands with its feet on the boy’s forearm and its front paws on the boy’s shoulder. The woman and boy stand on a wide, curved, peanut-brown stone step. A fluted column rises to our right of the woman, and a gold, brocade curtain hangs down the right edge of the canvas, partially in front of the column. A pearl-encrusted crown is tucked into the folds of the curtain. On a ledge to our left of the woman, a miniature orange tree grows in a pot. The landscape beyond has soft green trees against a blue sky mostly screened with parchment-brown clouds.
Sir Anthony van Dyck, Queen Henrietta Maria with Sir Jeffrey Hudson, 1633, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.39

Fashion

Artworks provide an invaluable record of fashion throughout history. See how art reflects trends of the time. See how meticulously artists represent details in clothing and accessories, from the sheen of silk to reflections in a pearl. 

  • This seems to be a collage of fragmented shapes forming an abstract composition. In the center is a blend of facial features, with mismatched eyes, lips, and thee different sections of hair, giving the impression of a woman's face. Surrounding this are elements suggesting a photography studio, such as spotlights and an umbrella near the top left corner. Around the central face are abstract shapes in pale blue and pale peach. The background is white, with some black rectangular shapes on the left and right sides and behind the umbrella at the top.
  • A woman with pale skin, wearing a shimmering, azure-blue gown, stands next to a child with a pale pink complexion, wearing a flame-red suit in this vertical portrait painting. The woman stands at the center of the composition with her body angled to our left, but she looks at us from the corners of her brown eyes. She has a straight nose, softly arched brows, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. A hint of a shiny silver earring pokes through brown ringlets, and one curl falls over one shoulder. Two long, white feathers droop off the side of her wide brimmed, black hat. The bodice and full skirt of her blue dress are trimmed with bands of gold along the hems, down the sleeves, and down the front of the skirt. The blue fabric is covered with short, diagonal strokes of lighter blue. White fabric covers the front of her bodice under a tall, wide, stiff, lacy white collar that extends from her chin to her shoulders. Two rose-pink bows are tied on the white fabric on her chest. The cuffs of her elbow-length sleeves have layers of white ruffles. She touches her skirt with her left hand, to our right, and with the other touches a monkey on the boy’s shoulder. To our left, the boy’s body faces us but he looks up at the woman with dark eyes. He has rounded cheeks, and his lips are parted in a slight smile. His shoulder-length blond hair reaches to his wide, lacy collar. His red suit has long sleeves, and the coat is buttoned down the front. Ivory-white gloves reach back over his forearms, and the tops of his knee-high, fawn-brown boots are folded over. He raises his left arm, closer to the woman, to hold a monkey on a tether. The monkey stands with its feet on the boy’s forearm and its front paws on the boy’s shoulder. The woman and boy stand on a wide, curved, peanut-brown stone step. A fluted column rises to our right of the woman, and a gold, brocade curtain hangs down the right edge of the canvas, partially in front of the column. A pearl-encrusted crown is tucked into the folds of the curtain. On a ledge to our left of the woman, a miniature orange tree grows in a pot. The landscape beyond has soft green trees against a blue sky mostly screened with parchment-brown clouds.

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Shown from the lap up, a young woman with pale skin, wearing a goldenrod-yellow dress, sits reading a small book, facing our left in profile in this vertical painting. The deep, scooped neckline of her rich yellow gown is edged with lace and decorated with a mauve-purple bow at the bust. Her chest is covered by sheer white fabric under a ruffled, pleated collar. The ruff is tied at the back with another mauve bow, and a ribbon of the same color ties up her chestnut-brown hair. She has a delicate nose and rosebud mouth, and she tips her head down to read the book she holds in one hand. She sits against an oversize pillow streaked with pale lilac and deep rose pink. Her left arm, closer to us, is draped over a railing that extends across the width of the canvas. The background behind her is streaked with tan and muted teal blue. A vertical strip of light caramel brown along the right edge of the canvas suggests another wall against which the pillow rests. The artist’s loose, lively brushstrokes are visible throughout.

Interactive Article:  The Mysterious Fantasy

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Watch and learn how to make fashion stamps on fabric inspired by Henri Matisse’s 1953 work Large Decoration with Masks.

Video:  D.I.Y. Art: Tie Dye Inspired by Claude Monet

Take a moment to “chill” with Claude Monet and this step-by-step D.I.Y. guide to tie dyeing like a pro.

Article:  A Fashionable Spin on Spring in Art

Social media influencer Holly Pan's fashion-forward visit to National Gallery spaces that remind her of spring.

Article:  Dressing for Dinner in the Gilded Age

This 19th-century dinner dress captured in the Index of American Design gives us a glimpse of how the wealthy dressed for dinner.

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Brush up on Sargent with Richard Ormond, great-nephew of the artist and cocurator of the exhibition Sargent in Spain.

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Decorative Arts

Decorative arts are windows into the culture and styles of their periods. More than just decoration, they tell stories about customs and values. The metalworkers, ceramicists, weavers, cabinetmakers, or glassblowers who created the works are often anonymous. But they left a mark on history through their technical skills and innovative styles.

We hover over a flax-yellow body of water lined with ships to our left and right, which are silhouetted against a moonlit, cloud-veiled sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition. The moon hangs to our left of center in the sky, its light reflecting on the clouds in a bright, hourglass shape to create a tunnel-like effect. The sea below turns from a gold color close to us to pale blue along the horizon. To our left, one ship with gray sails is cut off by the edge of the canvas and another, also with gray sails, is situated farther from us. A small, dark rowboat with two passengers moves between them. Light from the windows in buildings along the distant horizon to our left reflect in the water, and another building, a factory, spouts white flame from its chimney. More dark ships line the waterway to our right, their spiky masts black against the sky. Three flames, one orange between two pale yellow fires, flare in the darkness in front of the ship closest to us. The forms of men shoveling coal, crates, and barges are dark silhouettes against the firelight and smoke. More rowboats float among the boats in the distance. Near the lower right corner of the canvas, a broad, flat fragment of wood floats close to us. The hot orange and black on the right side of the painting contrasts with the silvery gray, light blue, and white that fills much of the rest of the composition. The painting was created with thick, blended brushstrokes throughout, giving the scene a hazy look. The texture of some of the brushstrokes is especially noticeable, as where the moon casts white light onto the water and in the clouds. The artist signed a buoy floating to our left with his initials, “JMWT.”

British Painting

The evolution in British painting mirrors the changes to British style and society between the 18th and 21st centuries. Works in our collection range from Sir Joshua Reynolds’s life-size “Grand Manner” portraits of British aristocrats to John Constable’s realistic views of the English countryside.