| Beauty Revealed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Sarah Goodridge |
| Year | 1828 |
| Type | watercolor on ivory |
| Dimensions | 6.7 cm × 8 cm (2.6 in × 3.1 in) |
| Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, United States |
| Accession | 2006.235.74 |
Beauty Revealed is an 1828 self-portrait by the American artist Sarah Goodridge, a watercolor portrait miniature on a piece of ivory. Depicting only the artist's bared breasts surrounded by white cloth, the 6.7-by-8-centimeter (2.6 by 3.1 in) painting, originally backed with paper, is now in a modern frame. Goodridge, aged forty when she completed the miniature, depicts breasts that appear imbued with a "balance, paleness, and buoyancy" by the harmony of light, color, and balance. The surrounding cloth draws the viewer to focus on them, leading to the body being "erased".[1]
Goodridge gave the portrait to statesman Daniel Webster, who was a frequent subject and possibly a lover, following the death of his wife; she may have intended to provoke him into marrying her. Although Webster married someone else, his family held onto the portrait until the 1980s, when it was auctioned at Christie's and acquired by Gloria and Richard Manney in 1981. The couple donated or sold the miniatures of their art collection, including Beauty Revealed, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006.