Technical Notes
The support is a twill-weave canvas with a fabric selvage located on the bottom tacking edge. The original tacking edges have numerous losses and breaks.

There is a very thin application of white ground, and X-radiographs suggest that it contains a minimal amount of lead white. Some evidence of a painted underdrawing is visible along the base of the column. There is impasto in the background, drapery, dress, bolster, and armrest. Although much of the surface has been over-cleaned, particularly the face, glazes are visible throughout. Over-cleaning has emphasized the weave pattern of the canvas.

X-radiographs and underlying brushwork reveal that the position of the proper left arm and the armrest of the chair were raised, while the proper right arm was lowered. They also suggest that the sitter originally may have held something in her proper right hand.

Under a microscope, small beads of a resinlike material, possibly an aged element of Sully’s paint mixture, are visible within the paint layer.

Although much of the impasto is still well defined, there is evidence of slight flattening. There are small, scattered losses as well as a dime-size loss at the top center. Retouching occurs on many of these losses and other abrasions, particularly on the hands and face, as well as on the column and distant sky.

The painting was last varnished, with Acryloid B-67, in 1979.