Detail View: The AMICA Library: Mrs. Ralph Curtis

The subject of this painting (born Lisa DeWolf Colt) was the wife of one of Sargent's closest friends, his cousin Ralph Curtis, who was also a painter. She leans backward, with her hands resting on a table and seems to look over the viewer, as if she is about to greet some other friends who have just entered the room. The setting is the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice, which the Curtis family purchased in 1878, and where they entertained a distinguished group of guests, including Henry James, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and the novelist Vernon Lee. Claude Monet painted from the front steps of the Palazzo and Henry James used the palace as the Venetian setting for his famous novel, The Wings of the Dove (1902).

Until now this painting has been known to few people, since for a century it apparently never left the room for which it was painted in the Palazzo Barbaro. One of Sargent's masterpieces, and a stunning display of his virtuoso brushwork, it is also the first canvas by the artist to enter the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection. The painting's acquisition coincides with the 100th anniversary of its creation.