Portrait of a Lady

Inscriptions

Signed and dated, lower right, in gold/cooper paint: [undecipherable / pinxit 1818(?) or 1803 (?); on reverse, wax seal: ROUART ALEXIS; stamp: M.R. SCHWEITZER / 205 East 54th St. ? New York 22. N.; inscribed, on stretcher, in graphite: [undecipherable; possibly McAlan Portrait]; white sticker: #3969 / Port. Dams / 27 1/2 x 20 7/8; numbered, white chalk on stretcher: 20

Label

Henri-François Riesener’s Portrait of a Lady exemplifies French Neoclassicism through its somber colors and virtuous portrayal of its sitter. After Napoleon’s abdication in 1815, French academic painter Riesener emigrated to Russia, where he painted court personalities, including this sitter. Despite the painting’s Russian origins, its first documented owner was Parisian Alexis Rouart, the son of a French industrialist and notable collector of 19th-century European art. Between Rouart’s death in 1911 and its gift to Dartmouth in 1961, this painting’s ownership is undocumented, leaving its journey from Russia to France to America a mystery awaiting further research.

Provenance: Collection of Alexis Rouart (1839–1911), Paris, date unknown; [Marthe] Alice (1915–2004) and M. R. [Meyer (Mac) R.] Schweitzer (1911–2006), New York, date unknown; given to present collection, 1961.

From the 2025 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 126, Hidden Histories: Art, Provenance, and the Nazi Era, curated by Sadie Weil '25, Mellon Special Project Intern

Course History

German 64.01, After Nazism: German Ruins, Yuliya Komska, Fall 2025

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 126, Hidden Histories: Art, Provenance, and the Nazi Era, Sadie Weil '25, Mellon Special Project Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 13 - November 2, 2025.

Aspects of Human Experience: Works from the Permanent Collection, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Art History 2, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 12, 1998-March 14, 1999.

Portraits at Dartmouth, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 10-April 16, 1978.

The Napoleonic Era, Strauss and Barrows Galleries and Barrows Windows, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 29-September 3, 1979.

Women's Clothing and Accessories: 1800-1930, Rotunday, Jaffe-Friede, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 7, 1979-January 27, 1980.

Publication History

Arthur R. Blumenthal, Portraits at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1978, p. 50, no. 41.

Provenance

Collection of Alexis Rouart (1839-1911), Paris, date unknown; [Marthe] Alice (1915-2004) and M. R. [Meyer (Mac) R.] Schweitzer (1911-2006), New York, date unknown; given to present collection, 1961.

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Subjects