Young Woman with a Butterfly

American 18th Century

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a young woman seated on an ornate yellow-brown chair, with her body slightly turned to the left and her head facing us. She has fair skin, dark wavy hair, a long nose, pale eyebrows, and small red lips that are slightly turned up at the ends. She is wearing a white gown with wide sleeves and a light greenish-yellow cloth draped over her shoulder and legs, perhaps a smock or apron, secured over her other shoulder by a beaded strap. She is holding a small sprig of greenery in her right hand, which rests on an arm of the chair, and her left hand is outstretched towards a round red vase on the right of the painting filled with flowers in shades of pink, cream, and pale yellow, with large green leaves. Two butterflies float above her hand in shades of cream and pale red. Her feet are visible below the hem of her dress, resting on the ground near the bottom right corner. The background features a dark red draped curtain that comes down from the top left corner and appears to cover most of the chair she sits on. The wall behind her and the colorful flowers is dark, with one section in the top right corner appearing to show a sliver of light blue sky with pink clouds.