Lady with an Arrow
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
This figure a woman holding an arrow is of a picture type known as an allegory, or symbolic figure. The arrow refers to the fortunes of love. It was more common to find a variety of picture types in Dutch colonial homes in New York and the Hudson Valley than in other colonial households. This wide-ranging taste was inspired by Dutch cultural traditions, which for two centuries had prized the production and display of landscapes, still lifes, and allegories, as well as portraiture.
Caption
American. Lady with an Arrow, ca. 1715. Oil on wood panel, 26 3/8 × 21 1/16 in. (67 × 53.5 cm) frame: 33 1/2 × 28 1/4 × 3 in. (85.1 × 71.8 × 7.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by anonymous donors and the Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 64.89.1. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Culture
Title
Lady with an Arrow
Date
ca. 1715
Medium
Oil on wood panel
Classification
Dimensions
26 3/8 × 21 1/16 in. (67 × 53.5 cm) frame: 33 1/2 × 28 1/4 × 3 in. (85.1 × 71.8 × 7.6 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds given by anonymous donors and the Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Accession Number
64.89.1
Frequent Art Questions
Was the wood this was painted on, always curved? Or did that happen over time?
That happened over time. The artist was working on two pieces of wood joined together. Over time the painting became warped from temperature and humidity changes and started to split into the two pieces. Conservators have managed to keep it stable.
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