“The boldly checked taffeta skirt in the painting echoes one of Miller’s early successes in the genre—Chinese Statuette, ca. 1909-1910 (The Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri), a Sargentesque portrait of his wife clad in the same skirt (rendered slightly darker). The repeated use of this skirt, which appears in several other paintings over a span of twenty years, indicates that it was a prop, a deliberate costume, that served Miller’s desire to create decorative effects while simultaneously showcasing his ability to render complex forms and textures. Any one of the skirt’s characteristics—billowing folds, shimmering texture, and checked weave—is a technical painting challenge. By combining them Miller displayed the kind of mastery that earned him the French Legion of Honor medal for his art in 1908.”

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