Shown from the waist up, a woman with pale skin and brown hair, wearing a dark corset and white fabric over her shoulders, looks down at needlework in her hands in this vertical painting. Her cheeks are rosy and her dark hair is pulled back, though it seems looser down the sides of her face. A small, coral-red, crescent shape at the back of her head could be covering her hair or holding it in place. White, nearly translucent fabric lies loosely across her shoulders over a dark, moss-brown, long-sleeved dress. Her breasts swell over the squared, lace-trimmed neckline. She holds white fabric…
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The Needlewoman

Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599 - 1660)

c. 1640/1650

Medium
oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 74 x 60 cm (29 1/8 x 23 5/8 in.) ; framed: 102.2 x 88.3 x 7.6 cm (40 1/4 x 34 3/4 x 3 in.)
Culture
Spanish
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CIS-B
Credit line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions nudity. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art

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