Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Unable to open [object Object]: HTTP 0 attempting to load TileSource: https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/27496940/info.json
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
This object does not yet have a description.

Gallery Text

This arresting portrait of a bespectacled woman standing before a window has charmed members of the Harvard community for decades. Her steady gaze and the detailed depiction of her hair, jewelry, and black tailored gown convey agency and intelligence. These specific elements of self-fashioning demonstrate Prior’s skill in representing the rich inner lives of his subjects through their surroundings and the objects they wear and hold.

The resemblance of the subject’s dress to academic and priestly robes has inspired new research. Harvard Art Museums curators are exploring the possibility that our subject may have lived around Albany, New York, and either attended or led one of the institutions for higher education for women in the region. We are also investigating the possibility that the portrait is an early example of Prior’s “spirit effect” portraits, in which he painted from memory posthumous portraits of indivi-duals who influenced him.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
H773
People
William Matthew Prior, American (Bath, ME 1806 - 1873 Boston, MA)
Title
Woman with Spectacles
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1838
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/101510

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2710, North Arcade
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
sight: 81.3 x 71.1 cm (32 x 28 in.)
framed: 96.5 x 86.4 x 7.6 cm (38 x 34 x 3 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Gift of Mrs. Gardiner H. Fiske to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, 1959.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard University Portrait Collection, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Gift of Mrs. Gardiner H. Fiske to Radcliffe College, 1959
Object Number
H773
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. and Melissa Renn, American Paintings at Harvard, Volume One: Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels by Artists Born before 1826, Yale University Press (U.S.) and Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge and New Haven, 2014), pp. 405-6, cat. 366, ill.
  • Harvard Art Museums: In Your Hands, Harvard Art Museums and GILES (Cambridge, 2025)

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2710 North Arcade, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/18/2023 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu