Portrait in White
1889 · Oil on canvas · National Gallery of Art, Washington
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Frank W. Benson (1862–1951)
- Year
- 1889
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 122.6 × 97.2 cm
- Collection
- National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Movement
- Realism
Ellen Peirson Benson, the painter's wife, sits very upright on a cream-painted chair in a full white gown with sheer puffed sleeves, her hands folded in her lap, against a plain dark green ground. Benson painted her in 1889, a year after their marriage, and the portrait shows the restraint of his Paris training under Boulanger and Lefebvre: a single figure, a dark background and all the light gathered on the white silk. He exhibited it under the title Portrait of My Wife, and their daughter Sylvia gave it to the National Gallery of Art in 1977.
This full-bleed edition prints the work edge to edge from a high-resolution scan of the original, very slightly cropped (a few percent at most) to fit the sheet. The gallery edition shows the whole work, uncropped. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
An elegant portrait in white and deep forest green for a dining room, bedroom or entrance hall in a black or dark wood frame. It pairs well with Sargent's and Beaux's portraits and suits a dark green or ivory wall.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Realism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1889)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- intimate
- Rooms
- bedroom, dining room, living room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 12×16, 18×24 in — 12×16 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 18×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or dark wood frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing. Also available gallery-wrapped on canvas, ready to hang with no frame.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Portrait in White in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Portrait in White painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
