
Read the visual description
Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman sits and leans on the arm of a seat in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s knees and shoulders are angled to our right but she turns her head slightly to our left so she looks out at us from the corners of her green, wide-set eyes. She has an oval face with a short nose, full pink lips, and a cleft in her chin. Her brown hair is set in loose finger waves and is either chin-length or pulled back. Her sleeveless, scoop-necked, ivory-white gown has spaghetti straps edged with gold. A sheen on the fabric suggests that it shimmers between white, mauve pink, and gold, and gold tracery around her hips mimics the look of a drop-waist over a long, flaring skirt. A rose-pink shawl drapes over her left arm, to our right, which rests on the arm of her seat. A long strand of pearls is looped twice around that wrist like a bracelet as the other end is pulled over her fingers, which she holds in front of her chest. Her other arm, to our left, is stretched straight by her side, and she wears a ring on that hand. The seat has an arched back and is painted with streaks of gold and tan. A darkened opening behind her is shaded midnight blue. Gold frames or molding flank the opening along the left and right edges of the canvas. The portrait is loosely painted, especially in her clothing and the background. The artist signed and dated the bottom right corner, “de Lászlo 1626. III.”
National Gallery of Art · Painting
Ailsa Mellon Bruce
Philip Alexius de László
- Date
- 1926
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 122.2 x 96.6 cm (48 1/8 x 38 1/16 in.) framed: 142.2 x 116.2 cm (56 x 45 3/4 in.)
- Classification
- Painting
- Accession number
- 1970.20.1
- Credit line
- Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
- Time span
- 1926 to 1950
- Department
- CMC
Subjects and terms
- painted surface
- British
- female
- portrait
- intentionally not assigned
- Bruce, Ailsa Mellon
Provenance
Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[1] bequest 1970 to NGA. [1] The painting is entered in the artist's sitters book (vol. II, p. 48, courtesy of Sandra de László, author of the Philip de László catalogue raisonné) as "Ailsa Mellon March 3rd" under the signature of her father, Andrew W. Mellon. This indicates it was at least begun, if not also finished, prior to Ailsa Mellon's marriage to David Bruce on 29 May 1926. It is not known whether the first owner was the sitter's father, or the sitter herself. See also The De Laszlo Archive Trust website, www.delaszlocatalogueraisonne.com, where the painting is number 6430, and a preparatory drawing, number 5729, is described and illustrated.
Inscription
lower right: de László / 1926. III.
NGA object ID 52350. 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.