The image shows a bust-length portrait of a seated woman, facing slightly left with her head turned towards the viewer. Her right hand rests on her chest. She has soft facial features, gentle eyes, a straight nose, and slightly pursed lips. She wears a dark garment with long sleeves, complemented by a light-colored lace shawl or collar. Her dark hair is covered by an ornately layered lace cap. The background is a simple, muted brown, likely wood-paneled.
Read the visual description

The image shows a bust-length portrait of a seated woman, facing slightly left with her head turned towards the viewer. Her right hand rests on her chest. She has soft facial features, gentle eyes, a straight nose, and slightly pursed lips. She wears a dark garment with long sleeves, complemented by a light-colored lace shawl or collar. Her dark hair is covered by an ornately layered lace cap. The background is a simple, muted brown, likely wood-paneled.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

Amy Taylor Dickson (Mrs. John Dickson)

John Neagle

Date
c. 1835
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 76.8 x 63.8 cm (30 1/4 x 25 1/8 in.) framed: 91.4 x 79.4 x 5.7 cm (36 x 31 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
1947.17.77
Credit line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Time span
1826 to 1850
Department
CAB

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • American
  • female
  • portrait
  • Realist
  • American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II [M-Z]
  • Dickson, Mrs. John
Provenance

The sitter's son, Levi Dickson [1805-1872], Philadelphia. Susan Allen Dickson, Philadelphia.[1] the artist's son, Garrett Cross Neagle, Philadelphia; Gilbert Sunderland Parker, Philadelphia; Mrs. Anna P. Bly; (William Macbeth, New York); Franklin Bulkeley Smith [1864-1918], Worcester, Massachusetts; (his estate sale, American Art Association, 22-23 April 1920, no. 149); purchased by C. Deardon, probably for Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1947 to NGA. [1] The provenance published in the NGA systematic catalogue reads: "The sitter's son, Levi Dickson, Jr. [d. 1883], Philadelphia; his sister, Susan Allen Dickson, Philadelphia." Too late for publication, it was determined that this information was not quite accurate. There were several Levi Dicksons in the family, and the sitter's son was not the Levi who died in 1883. Susan Allen Dickson was not the sitter's daughter; however she lent the painting to an exhibition in 1887/1888, and was a family member, although her relationship to the sitter and the sitter's son has not yet been clarified. This version of the provenance provides only that information which is confirmed. (See notes on the family genealogy in NGA curatorial files.)

NGA object ID 34125. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.