Clara de la Motte

Half-length portrait of a woman shown in three-quarter view facing right. She wears a blue gown trimmed with wide border of lace featuring a rose and floral pattern. She wears white and blue aigrettes in her brown hair, which is worn in a bouffant style. She wears long chain-link earrings and a lavaliere on a gold chain. She holds a sprig of grain in her right hand and has a small bird on her left hand. She sits in a chair with a curved wooden crest rail and red upholstery. The sitter was a Jewish émigré from the Spanish colony of Curaçao who arrived in New Orleans in 1787.