The Seamstress

Joseph Rodefer DeCamp

National Gallery of Art

A light-skinned, red-haired woman sits in profile facing our left in front of a window, sewing at table in a room bathed in sunlight in this vertical painting. The loosely painted scene is dominated by slivery grays, cream, and ivory white. She faces our left with her head tipped slightly away from as she looks down at her hands. Her face is in shadow but her pale cheeks are deeply flushed, and her neck and arms are tinged with pink. Her cream-white dress has sheer elbow-length sleeves covered with a stylized floral pattern. Shadows are created with soft, steel blue. She sits on a wooden chair with a curved back. She rests the arm closer to us on a bundle of white material that lies on the gleaming, round, wood table that separates us from her. Her other hand reaches forward with the thumb and index fingers touching. A spool of white thread sits on the table near her hands and, on the other end, near her elbow, is a small vase with a round black base and touches of scarlet, moss green, and baby blue on the neck. There are streaks of olive green and mustard yellow on the tabletop that hard to interpret. The window behind her fills most of the canvas. Ruffled white curtains are pulled to each side with a sash, and shutters are swung inward. The view is loosely painted and seems hazy, but copper-brown and gold strokes could suggest trees with slate-blue buildings in the near distance. The artist signed and dated the upper left corner, “JOSEPH-DE-CAMP-1916.”