Portrait of a Woman
Framed: 3 1/2 × 2 5/16 × 1/8 inches (8.89 × 5.87 × 0.32 cm)
High-waisted flowing dresses and unpowdered curls abounded in the Regency era (about 1795–1837). A period in Britain associated with the rise of King George IV and the work of novelist Jane Austen, this time left its mark on fashion, too.
Inspired by the classical fashions of Greece and Rome, this period witnessed an emphasis on elegance and simplicity. Recalling garments on ancient statues, women often wore lightweight white fabrics closely fitted to the torso, with waistlines falling just under the bust. This style, known as Empire waist, initially appeared in France and England in the 1790s and gained currency during Napoleon’s empire (1804–1814), as reflected in its name. It continues to appear in fashions today.
Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.
Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 179, p. 61, (repro.), as Unknown Lady.
Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “Henry Edridge, Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1805,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 2, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1364.
