In Tate Britain
Spotlights: John Opie
Free entry- Artist
- John Opie 1761–1807
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 759 x 638 mm
frame: 1005 x 875 x 130 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased 1884
- Reference
- N01167
Display caption
Wollstonecraft was a ground-breaking feminist. This portrait shows her looking directly towards us, temporarily distracted from her studies. Such a pose would more typically be used for a male sitter. Women would normally be presented as more passive, often gazing away from the viewer. The painting dates to around the time she published A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792). This argued against the idea that women were naturally inferior to men and emphasised the importance of education.
Gallery label, October 2019
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Explore
- objects(23,378)
-
- furnishings(3,103)
-
- desk(82)
- reading, writing, printed matter(5,151)
-
- book - non-specific(1,967)
- ink bottle(11)
- quill pen(29)
- Godwin, Mary(18)
- Wollstonecraft, Mary(1)
- individuals: female(1,704)
You might like
-
John Opie Mrs S.W. Reynolds
1795 -
John Hoppner Mrs Williams
c.1790 -
Sir Henry Raeburn Mrs Cay
date not known -
George Romney Mr and Mrs William Lindow
1772 -
J.W. Chandler William Godwin
1798 -
George Romney Mrs Mark Currie
1789 -
Sir Thomas Lawrence Mrs Siddons
1804 -
Sir Thomas Lawrence Mrs Siddons, ? as Mrs Haller in ‘The Stranger’
c.1796–8 -
Manner of Sir Joshua Reynolds Mrs Fox
c.1780 -
Nathaniel Hone Portrait of a Lady in a Blue Dress, possibly Mrs Mary Barnardiston
1779 -
John Opie The Artist’s Mother
c.1791 -
George Romney Mrs Robert Trotter of Bush
1788–9 -
Sir Henry Raeburn Mrs Charles Steuart
c.1794 -
Sir Henry Raeburn Mrs Downey
c.1787–90 -
George Romney Mrs John Matthews
1786