Gilbert Stuart
Elisabeth Bender Greenough
(Mrs. David Greenough)
, about 1820

Technical Notes
The support is a 1.3-centimeter-thick panel of tangentially cut mahogany. Its surface is smooth and shows no indication of scoring. The back of the panel is coated with a dull, yellow earth-toned paint. The top edge has drip marks descending from the presentation surface; the other edges are free of any drips and overlapping paint, suggesting that the side and bottom edges may have been cut down.

A 11.4-centimeter-long split extends vertically from the bottom edge. Another split, 16 centimeters from the left edge, descends 12 centimeters from the top edge. Dowel plugs are glued into holes drilled in the edges where the cracks have occurred. Three of these dowel plugs are along the top edge; two are along the bottom edge. Original paint extending over an indentation in the left background suggests that Stuart used the panel despite this imperfection.

Recent examinations have revealed that a sketch of a man's head was done on the back of the panel and painted over with a layer of yellow earth-tone paint. Examination with an infrared vidicon camera of the layered paint on the front and back confirms that the verso sketch was painted by Stuart and was likely done prior to Greenough's portrait. It appears that when Stuart painted Greenough's portrait, he painted over the sketch on the verso.

The ground is gray and evenly applied. A loosely painted sketch of the sitter established the essential form and composition of the portrait, which was then developed further using both wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry techniques. The gray ground shows through in many areas.

The hair on the sitter's forehead was first thinly painted with brown paint and left in reserve while the face was brought to a greater degree of completion. This is evident by the way the paint used for the flesh does not extend under the hair but instead is applied around it. Further details to the face and hair were added later using a wet-on-dry technique.

The black paint in the dress is freely applied and somewhat thicker. There are remnants of a red glaze used in the drapery. The blue sky was painted up to and after the drapery.

The paint surface has an overall abrasion, predominately in the red drapery and the black dress, which is likely the result of overcleaning that occurred before the painting entered the collection.

The painting was most recently treated in 1994, when the varnish was removed, abrasions were inpainted, and the painting was revarnished. The present varnish consists of a coating of mastic varnish, covered with a coating of damar varnish that includes tinuvin 292. The varnish is glossy and saturating, but an uneven area in the varnish lies along the top of the painting.