The Marquesa de Pontejos
A woman with pale skin, wearing a silvery-gray dress adorned with white ribbons and light pink roses, stands looking out at us with a small, pug dog by her feet in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body is angled slightly to our right but she looks at us with dark eyes under faint, arched brows. Her nose is rounded, her cheeks smooth and flushed, and her pale pink lips are closed. Her face is framed in a cloud of nickel-gray hair, and tendrils curl down over her shoulders. She wears a wide-brimmed straw hat with a white ribbon set on the back of her head and slightly off to one side. The bodice of her dress has a low, curving neck. This area is loosely painted to create the impression of layers of lace. A band of intertwined pale pink roses and delicate green leaves borders the outer edge of the lace. The dress has long, tight sleeves with lace at the cuffs and the notably narrow waist is tied with a blush-pink ribbon. The full, silver skirt is picked up to create a row of puffs, like the top of a muffin, around her knees. Bunches of pink roses and white ribbons are nestled into the puffs, and below, the skirt falls in long, vertical pleats to her ankles. She wears white stockings and pointed, petal-pink shoes. In her left arm, on our right, she holds a closed fan loosely at her side, almost lost behind the skirt. She holds a pink carnation with a full bloom and a bud on a long, curving stem in her other hand, by her hip. A caramel-brown pug with a black face, wearing a pink collar lined with three bells, stands facing us with one front paw lifted, to our right of the woman's feet. The landscape is painted in tones of mint and sage green for grass beneath trees enclosing the space the woman stands in, sand brown for the ground, and icy blue for the sky above.
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 210.3 x 127 cm (82 13/16 x 50 in.) framed: 231.8 x 146.4 cm (91 1/4 x 57 5/8 in.)
- Department
- CIS-B
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Subject Matter
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Portrait Both · 99%
The National Gallery of Art identifies the work as a portrait, and the image presents a single sitter in a full-length standing pose.
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Human Figure Visual · 99%
A clearly recognizable human figure occupies the center of the composition and is shown from head to feet.
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Eye Contact Visual · 98%
The sitter looks directly outward toward the viewer.
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Animals Visual · 99%
A small pug stands prominently near the sitter’s feet at the lower right of the composition.
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Related to Fashion Visual · 98%
The elaborate gown, hat, lace, ribbons, stockings, shoes, fan, and floral adornments make clothing and personal adornment central to the depicted subject.
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Flora Visual · 95%
Flowers appear as decorations on the gown and in the sitter’s hand, with additional plants visible in the foreground and landscape.
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Landscapes Visual · 98%
Trees, grass, earth, and sky create a garden or park-like outdoor setting around the sitter.
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Atmospheric Landscapes Visual · 91%
The outdoor background is rendered with hazy, softened transitions and subdued contrasts, producing an atmospheric landscape effect.
Visual Qualities
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Pastel Colors Visual · 94%
Pale gray, pink, mint, sage, and blue-gray hues create a predominantly soft, light-toned palette.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Both · 99%
The catalog identifies the medium as oil on canvas, and the image is a painted composition.
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Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Visual · 91%
The trees, sky, lace, and portions of the gown are rendered with loose, softened brushwork rather than uniformly sharp contours.
Time Periods
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18th Century Art Both · 99%
The catalog dates the work to circa 1786, placing it in the eighteenth century.
Source & rights
Francisco Goya. The Marquesa de Pontejos. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.