Seated lady with long white gloves 1927

3/4 portrait in a seated position, hands folded on her thighs, head turned toward the viewer, looking directly at him. The subject wears a black skirt, a gold-colored brocade jacket with long side panels, a white blouse with a stand-up collar and a wine-red bow, and long white gloves reaching to the elbows. She leans on red and green cushions draped over a sofa. Background: a salon, only the right wall of which is illuminated by light, on which the shadow of the sitter is visible; above it, part of a picture on the wall is also visible.

JQAW# P_1927_160
Oil on board 47 x 38 cm
Signature (according to auction house): John Quincy Ɑdams 1927
Unknown private collection (UK?)
Picture: Sothebys auction catalogue

This portrait of an unknown lady with a striking doll-like face and long white gloves was offered at a Sotheby's auction in London in 1994 and identified as a work by John Quincy Adams by the auction house. The painting remained unsold, and the consignor is unknown. It can be assumed that the portrait quite likely came to England after 1938 when the subject and/or her family emigrated. The work is stylistically unusual for Adams (choice of colors, execution), and it is unfortunate that, due to a lack of information on the paintings provenance, the subject and her background cannot be identified in order to understand the stylistic peculiarities of the work.

Cross-references

Exhibited

Literature

Provenance

Unknown.
1994 auction Sotheby's London 16.3.1994 Lot 242 (unsold).
Unknown private collection (UK?).