AGO Researchers Identify the Sitter in an 18th-Century Portrait and Attribute It to Jeremias Schultz
A quietly arresting 18th-century portrait at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has undergone a decisive transformation: the museum has identified the sitter and named the artist, turning what was once a generic “lady” into a historically specific person.
The painting, acquired at auction by the Toronto museum in 2020, is now titled “Portrait of Eleonora Susette (1775).” AGO researchers have determined that the sitter is Eleonora Susette, born around 1756 in Berbice, a Dutch colony in what is now Guyana. The work has also been attributed to Berlin-born artist Jeremias Schultz (1722–1800).
Until recently, the portrait circulated under the descriptive title “Portrait of a Lady Holding an Orange Blossom,” a label that emphasized costume and props while leaving the subject’s identity unresolved. The AGO’s new research shifts the work’s center of gravity from appearance to biography, placing Susette within a transatlantic history that linked Amsterdam to the Caribbean through colonial trade and enslavement.
The attribution to Schultz was supported by a partial signature discovered on the painting: “J.Schul…fec.” The fragment provided a crucial starting point, but the identification did not rest on handwriting alone. Researchers also traced a family connection that helped anchor Susette in the artist’s orbit. Beata Louise Schultz, the painter’s first cousin, is documented as having returned from Berbice to Amsterdam with Susette, a relationship that strengthened the case for both sitter and maker.
Comparative material further clarified the picture. Another Schultz work, “Portrait of a young man wearing a green jacket holding a cane,” in a private collection, offered a point of reference for the artist’s manner and helped corroborate the AGO’s attribution.
The museum’s findings also illuminate the sitter’s movements across the Atlantic. Less than a year after the portrait was painted in Amsterdam, Susette and Michiel were sent back to Berbice. While the painting fixes her likeness in the Netherlands, the AGO notes that research into Susette’s life after her return to Berbice remains ongoing.
The newly titled “Portrait of Eleonora Susette (1775)” is currently on view in gallery 123 on the AGO’s ground level. For visitors, the updated label does more than correct a catalog entry: it reframes the encounter with the work, asking viewers to consider how museums name, attribute, and interpret portraits shaped by colonial histories — and how much can still be recovered when institutions commit to sustained provenance and biographical research.
