Woman of the "Orient"

1837

Henri Lehmann

Painter, French, born Germany, 1814 - 1882

Shown from the lap up, a young woman with smooth, olive-toned skin tinged with pink sits facing our left on a waterfront verandah in this vertical painting. A peanut-brown stone wall behind her angles into the picture from the right edge of the painting, and a stone balustrade spans the width of the composition beyond her. A sliver of a coral-pink drapery hangs just behind her shoulders, to our right. She tips her head down and to our right over slightly slumped shoulders. She looks at or toward us with large brown eyes under dark, arching brows. She has a thin, straight nose, and her full, rosy lips are closed. Her black hair is parted down the middle and long braids fall to each side of her face. Her head is covered with a sheer, straw-yellow fabric that winds around the braids. Her bare arms stretch forward from her sleeveless dress, and her hands are loosely clasped on one raised knee. The dress has a white bodice trimmed with a delicate gold pattern around the loose neckline, and a gleaming bead at the shoulder we can see. The voluminous skirt starts just under the bust, and falls in folds around her lower body. It is patterned with stylized, golden-tan leaves, vines, and flowers against an aquamarine-blue background, and the skirt is belted around her waist. Water in the distance is painted with a band of pale blue. Where the clear sky meets the horizon is misty peach that deepens to topaz blue along the top of the composition. The artist has signed and dated the painting in the upper right corner “HEINRICH.LEHMANN 1837 PARIS.”

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 81


Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 75 × 61 cm (29 1/2 × 24 in.)

  • Accession

    2019.15.1


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Private collection, Barcelona;[1] (sale, Balclis, Barcelona, 6 June 2018, no. 870); (Didier Aaron & Cie, Paris); purchased June 2019 by NGA.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

upper right, "HE" in ligature: HEINRICH.LEHMANN. / 1837. / .PARIS.

Wikidata ID

Q108686661


You may be interested in

Loading Results