Christian Gullager
Martha Saunders Salisbury
(Mrs. Nicholas Salisbury)
, 1789

Technical Notes
The painting's support is a plain-weave canvas. The tacking edges are no longer extant, and it is uncertain whether the canvas was commercially prepared.

The warm white ground layer was evenly applied. Gullager initially painted in broad opaque areas and worked, in general, from dark to light. Much of the painting was done with a wet-on-wet technique, although the fine details and highlights were applied wet-on-dry and have hard edges.

Fading of the pigments has occurred throughout. There is a network of age cracks with slight cupping along many of the cracks, which have largely been inpainted. There is discolored overpaint on the kerchief above the proper right wrist and on its central fold.

According to a treatment report dated 1949, the painting was "superficially cleaned" and the varnish was "reformed" with a sprayed application of solvents. The painting was later coated with wax. The surface currently appears very dull and matte and the varnish is somewhat discolored.

Frame Notes
The frame consists of a carved and gilded softwood molding which features a floral design along the sight edge, followed by a flat band of sandwork, and an outer section of raised scroll-and-foliate ornament. The corners have pierced foliate scroll designs, with applied carved wood flowers. Two coves extend from the top edge of the scroll work to the back panel; the second of these has a carved floral design. The bole is dark yellow.