Mrs. John Taylor

Thomas Gainsborough

National Gallery of Art

A pale-skinned woman is shown from the waist up within an oval opening in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body is angled to our right, but she turns her face to look off to our left with gray eyes. She has a thin, oval-shaped face, a long nose, and her dark pink lips are closed. Her ash-brown hair is swept up and back from her forehead, and some curls hang down the back of her neck. A sheer veil drapes over her hair and down around her sloping shoulders. The bodice of her ivory-yellow gown is cut low and lined with lace. Pearls ornament the front of the dress and part of the sleeve closer to us, and an aquamarine-blue cloth with gold touches is tied around her waist. The corners around the oval opening are painted to look like wood in shades of warm brown. The background behind the woman is nearly black to our left and it lightens to earthy brown to the right. The portrait is loosely painted, especially in the hair, clothing, and background.