Description
John Singleton Copley’s Anna Dummer Powell presents an elderly woman seated against a dark background. A white cap and shawl frame her face and shoulders above the black dress, while the red chair adds a restrained note of color. The book in her lap and the placement of her hands give the portrait a settled, deliberate character, with the face remaining its clear center of attention.
Painted in 1764, this oil portrait was commissioned by Powell’s son shortly before her death at the age of eighty. The Cleveland Museum of Art records its later passage through female descendants of the family. Copley’s close observation makes the picture more than an emblem of age: fabrics, posture and the individual features of the sitter combine into a particular, enduring presence.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the John Singleton Copley collection.
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