Mrs. Robert Nicholls (Henrietta Overing) Auchmuty
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
To explain and legitimize their place within the imperial system, the Spanish American moneyed elite displayed titles and coats of arms in portraits as proud markers of rank. Here, Mexico City’s Creole marquesa of Rivas Cacho, adorned with diamond and pearl earrings, appears beside her family’s coat of arms.
The more understated dress of Mrs. Robert Nicholls Auchmuty, painted in the same year by Gilbert Stuart, reflects the relative restraint of the former British American colonies, where noble titles did not exist. Both ladies wear their era’s fashionable high Empire-waist dresses, Mrs. Auchmuty’s of formal black silk taffeta and Doña Josefa’s of equally expensive but less elaborate embroidered white cotton muslin.
Para explicar y legitimar su lugar en el sistema imperial, la rica élite hispanoamericana exhibía orgullosamente títulos y escudos de armas en retratos como indicadores de rango. Aquí, la marquesa de Rivas Cacho, de la Ciudad de México, adornada con diamantes y aretes de perlas, aparece junto al escudo de armas de su familia.
El vestido un poco más recatado de la Sra. de Robert Nicholls Auchmuty, pintado el mismo año por Gilbert Stuart, refleja la relativa modestia de las ex-colonias británicoamericanas, donde los títulos nobiliarios no existían. Ambas damas llevan vestidos de estilo imperio de cintura alta a la moda de su tiempo, el de la Sra. Auchmuty formal de tafetán de seda negra y el de doña Josefa de muselina de algodón blanco, igual de costoso pero menos elaborado.
Caption
Gilbert Stuart American, 1755–1828. Mrs. Robert Nicholls (Henrietta Overing) Auchmuty, 1816. Oil on canvas, 34 1/8 x 28 1/16 in. (86.6 x 71.2 cm) frame: 41 1/4 x 35 5/8 x 3 3/4 in. (104.8 x 90.5 x 9.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Herbert L. Pratt, 21.55. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 21.55_PS6.jpg)
Collection
Collection
Artist
Title
Mrs. Robert Nicholls (Henrietta Overing) Auchmuty
Date
1816
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
34 1/8 x 28 1/16 in. (86.6 x 71.2 cm) frame: 41 1/4 x 35 5/8 x 3 3/4 in. (104.8 x 90.5 x 9.5 cm)
Signatures
Unsigned
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert L. Pratt
Accession Number
21.55
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
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