This painting depicts a seated woman from the waist up. She has her right elbow resting on one arm of the red chair that she sits in, with her head leaning on her hand. Her left hand is holding white fabric in her lap. She has light skin, blue eyes, a large nose, and pink lips set in a slight smile. Her curly brown hair is styled up with a decorative headband featuring a crescent-shaped ornament. She wears a dark dress with a lace-trimmed neckline, short, puffed sleeves, a gold brooch, and gold earrings. The background is warm brown with a reddish fabric draped on the right side.
Gallery mode Full size at the museum

Window mode follows your eyes with your camera, in this browser only: no picture or position leaves your device.

Maria Gansevoort Melvill (Mrs. Allan Melvill)

Ezra Ames (American, 1768 - 1836)

c. 1815

Medium
oil on wood
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 76.2 x 59.7 cm (30 x 23 1/2 in.) ; framed: 97.8 x 82.6 x 8.3 cm (38 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)
Culture
American
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CAB
Credit line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art