Study of a Woman

Adolph Menzel

1888 · carpenter's pencil (?) with stumping on paper · Robert Lehman Collection

This study of a figure from everyday life is characteristic of Menzel’s later work. Perhaps a servant in the Menzel household, the sitter was one of the artist’s favorites— he made several sketches of her and used one as the model for the etching Silent Participation. Typical ofhis late figure studies, the composition is asymmetrical, contemplative in mood, and demonstrates a masterful description of naturalistic detail.

Artist

Adolph Menzel

Date

1888

Medium

carpenter's pencil (?) with stumping on paper

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975