Anne Fairchild Bowler (Mrs. Metcalf Bowler)

John Singleton Copley

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the knees up, a woman wearing a shimmering teal-blue gown and holding a garland of flowers stands in front of columns and a landscape in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s body faces us, but she turns her head slightly to our left as she looks at us with dark brown eyes. Her skin is pale, nearly the color white, and she has rosy cheeks. She has an oval face, a long, thin nose, the suggestion of a double chin, and her peach-colored lips are closed. Her brown hair is pulled back under a lacy cap, and she wears dime-sized sapphire earrings rimmed with gleaming silver or diamonds. A pendant with three round sapphires and a larger, teardrop-shaped gem hangs from a choker made of thumbprint-sized sapphires. The edges of a white bow, presumably tying her hair, curl to either side of her neck. Her tight-fitting bodice has a square, lace-edged neckline and white ribbons tied down the front. Long, lacy cuffs fall from elbow-length sleeves, and the full skirt falls in vertical folds from the cinched waist. The teal fabric has a sheen, suggesting silk or satin. A pink rose as well as white, yellow, orange, and blue flowers are tied to a pink ribbon to create a garland, which she holds with both hands. Tan-colored stone columns lining the painting to either side behind her are connected by a balustrade, all of which frames a view out to a tall, light green tree and a blue sky touched with pink along the horizon. A coral-pink curtain hangs in the top right corner.