Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft

What it is

This is an oil portrait said to show Mary Wollstonecraft, attributed to the painter John Opie. The painting shows a young woman with light brown hair, wearing a dark hat and a white fichu, turned to one side against a dark background.

Why it matters

John Opie was a well-known portrait painter of his time, and this image is one of the ways Wollstonecraft's appearance has been passed down to us. Portraits like this shaped how later generations pictured the writer and thinker.

Look closer

• What does the clothing and pose in the portrait suggest about how the sitter wanted to be seen?
• Why might an artist choose a plain, dark background for a portrait?
• How reliable do you think a painted portrait is as evidence of what someone really looked like?