Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian

James McNeill Whistler

National Gallery of Art

A woman stands with her back to us wearing a silver and black gown as she turns to look to our right in profile in this vertical portrait painting. We look slightly down onto the woman, and her features are painted with blended brushstrokes, making some details indistinct. She has pale, peachy skin, a straight nose, a strong chin, and her pink lips are closed. Black bangs brush the temple we can see, and her hair is pulled up into a bun high on the back of her head. Her black bodice has elbow-length, ruffled silver sleeves, which seem to be overlaid with translucent black material gathered in tiers. More gauzy black material covers her upper back to a high, black collar. A pearl-white bow at her lower back is nearly the width of her waist. The silver fabric of her long skirt drapes to and on the floor in a short train in deep folds. The woman’s right arm hangs by her side, and she holds what might be a piece of black fabric. A baseboard angles in a shallow diagonal down to our right across her hips. The wall above is smoky mauve-purple and below is charcoal gray. The shape of a butterfly within a darker oval is on the wall just to our right of the woman’s wrist.