Marie Buloz Pailleron (Madame Édouard Pailleron)

John Singer Sargent

National Gallery of Art

A woman with pale skin and reddish, auburn hair stands facing and looking at us on a grassy lawn, wearing a long black dress in this vertical portrait painting. She stands with her body angled slightly to our right but turns to look at us with heavy-lidded, hazel eyes under pointed brows. She has a narrow face, a straight nose, and her full, pink lips are closed. Her cheeks are lightly flushed and she has a cleft in her chin. Her copper-colored, curly hair is pulled back, and bangs sweep across her forehead. Her black dress has a fitted bodice and the long, narrow skirt ends in layers of ruffles at the hem. A spray of white fabric, perhaps taffeta, is tied in a flaring bow at her neck, partially overlapping a tomato-red object, perhaps a flower or corsage, on her left shoulder, farther from us. The tight sleeves of her dress are black lace, and the cuffs are lined with more sprays of white. She holds up her skirt with both hands, close to her left thigh. Where the hem is lifted, the layers of white fabric underneath are exposed, creating an S-shape that curves down to her feet. The sheen on the layers of ruffles suggest that the black skirt, at least, is made from silk. She wears jeweled rings on the fourth finger of each hand and dangling, sparkling earrings. She stands on an oyster-colored ground, probably a walking path, in front of a lawn that fills most of the background. Touches of yellow and pale purple suggest flowers in the lawn, which fades from muted, pine green close to us to mint green in the distance. The carpet of the lawn is broken only by a birch tree near the upper right corner. A spray of leaves, presumably from a tree just outside the composition, dips into the scene at the upper right as well. Some trees and a white, stone structure with steps and a balustrade line the top edge of the composition. The artist inscribed the work with brown script in the lower right corner, where it reads: “John S. Sargent Ronjoux 1879.”