# Who is this woman? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355 "2005-01-30T01:40:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/1 "2005-01-30T01:40:15Z")
Can you identify the woman in the [portrait on the left](http://www.daviscabinetcompany.com/home2.html)? (To actually see the portrait, you will need to follow the link, click on “Lillian Russell” in the left column, scroll down to the first row of photos and click on “2321 Chest.” I was unable to make a direct link. I don’t think that the portrait actually is of Lillian Russell. She lived in a later period. I know that this glimpse is small and blurry, but it is all that I have. The portrait is a very familiar one and I see it often and even own a small one. A large version was above the piano in a friend’s house when I was growing up. If you are familiar with that painting in general, you may be able to recognize this pitiful blurred view of it. If you don’t know the lady, do you know the artist or anything about the painting? Judging from her very formal dress and hairstyle, I would guess that she lived around 1840 – give or take 20 years. But that’s a guess. Coincidentally, the copy that I own I discovered on vacation as we passed through Virginia. It was in an antique shop in a small town. I knew only one person who had lived in that town. It was the friend I had known in childhood – the one whose mother had the painting above her piano. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/2 "2005-01-30T01:51:20Z")
Crud. I remember seeing those portraits in my history texts when I was in school. Can’t remember their names for the life of me, though. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/3 "2005-01-30T02:53:29Z")
Not a painting. It really is a [photograph](http://www.judgmentofparis.com/images/Lil38.jpg) of [Lillian Russell](http://users.wclynx.com/theshaws/adslillianrussell.html). ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/4 "2005-01-30T03:43:27Z")
**jayjay** , thanks, but that’s not the one I’m talking about. There is a photograph of a chest with two oil paintings above it. The one on the left is a woman (hatless) in formal dress. And she is the mystery woman in my life. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/5 "2005-01-30T03:46:40Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **jayjay** , thanks, but that’s not the one I’m talking about. There is a photograph of a chest with two oil paintings above it. The one on the left is a woman (hatless) in formal dress. And she is the mystery woman in my life. Heh…that’s what I get for not reading the OP thoroughly! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/6 "2005-01-30T03:51:21Z")
Damn…both of the paintings above that chest are just vaguely familiar. I have to echo **lizardling** …my brain is screaming “history text!” ---
**Author:** ![lightthatup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/71e660/32.png) [@lightthatup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightthatup)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/7 "2005-01-30T04:02:38Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Damn…both of the paintings above that chest are just vaguely familiar. I have to echo **lizardling** …my brain is screaming “history text!” Reminded me of Julia Tyler, but does not help Zoe. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/jt10.html](http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/jt10.html) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/8 "2005-01-30T06:08:17Z")
Hmm, hard to say unless one specifically recognizes that painting. Perhaps it’s the Empress Eugenie, shown here in later years, every bit the cat who ate the canary: [http://www.hants.gov.uk/record-office/papers/images/paper22.jpg](http://www.hants.gov.uk/record-office/papers/images/paper22.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/9 "2005-01-30T06:55:57Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I was unable to make a direct link. Let’s see if my web skills are greater. [linky](http://www.daviscabinetcompany.com/images/lillian_2321.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/10 "2005-01-30T14:48:07Z")
Let’s give those _Arty-Fahrty_ types in Cafe Society a whack at this one. Moved from GQ by **samclem**. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/11 "2005-01-30T16:42:39Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > The one on the left is a woman (hatless) in formal dress. And she is the mystery woman in my life. Could she be Elise McKenna (as portrayed by Jane Seymour)? [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0081534/](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0081534/) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-woman/287355/12 "2005-01-31T06:48:52Z")
> [@](#): > > **vetbridge** : Could she be Elise McKenna (as portrayed by Jane Seymour)? My childhood is about 30 years older than that movie! (But now you’ve made me tear up.) Thanks for moving the **SamClem**. Good idea. And **LordVor** , I am impressed. Thankee. **Slithy Tove** , _That_ is the Empress Eugenie?? I guess I expected her to stay perpetually young. **lightthatup** , the similarity to Julia Tyler is _amazing_! Close enough that I can’t help but wonder if it is another portrait. And I also wonder how in the world you knew about Julia Tyler! **jayjay** , I wish I could tell you that I am secretly extraordinarily wealthy and would pay your way around the world to research this question for me. Alas. I’m not. But you have been kind to check back. Thanks!