Lady with a Dog

Mather Brown

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The first American artist to enroll in the Royal Academy, London, Brown also studied under his compatriots Gilbert Stuart and Benjamin West. Brown remained in London for much of his career and enjoyed the peak of his success during the late 1780s, at about the time he painted this elaborate portrait. Like Copley, whose work he emulated, Brown surrounds his sitter’s sharply defined face with loosely painted clothing, props, and background effects. He was well known for his complex portrayal of fabrics, as in ample evidence here.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art