Art, literature & history
Woman Sleeping in a Landscape with a Letter
c. 1800
- Dating
- Approximate date range
- Held at
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 36 x 44 cm (14 3/16 x 17 5/16 in.); Unframed: 32.4 x 40.6 cm (12 3/4 x 16 in.)
- Collection no.
- 2008.289
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Bernard Gaillot. Woman Sleeping in a Landscape with a Letter. The Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
About this artwork
Woman Sleeping in a Landscape with a Letter — Bernard Gaillot. c. 1800.
Medium: oil on canvas. Dimensions: Framed: 36 x 44 cm (14 3/16 x 17 5/16 in.); Unframed: 32.4 x 40.6 cm (12 3/4 x 16 in.).
Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
The subject matter here probably comes from an English novel popular in France around 1800. The monument’s inscription indicates that the wife of Fotheringham, an English military leader in India, has recently died. The reclining woman (perhaps sleeping, mourning, or dead) has dropped a portrait miniature of Fotheringham, accompanying a letter to his mother. The narrative has yet to be deciphered, but the husband may have written home, unaware of his wife’s death.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.