Beauty Revealed is an 1828 self-portrait by the American artist Sarah Goodridge. Depicting only the artist's bared breasts surrounded by white cloth, the 2.6-by-3.1-inch (6.7 by 8 cm) painting, originally backed with paper, is now in a modern frame. Goodridge, aged forty when she completed the watercolor portrait miniature on a piece of ivory, presented the breasts as youthful and individualized. She employed a frontal view that showed only the area from the collarbone to just underneath the breasts, thereby anonymizing the portrait.

Goodridge gave the portrait to statesman Daniel Webster, who was a frequent subject and possibly a lover, following the death of his wife; she may have intended to provoke him into marrying her. Although Webster married someone else, his family held onto the portrait until the 1980s, when it was auctioned at Christie's. Purchased by Gloria and Richard Manney in 1981, the painting was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006. It has been read as a work of erotica, as well as an expression of the artist's confident sexuality.

Beauty Revealed is a self-portrait by Sarah Goodridge, depicting her bared breasts and pink nipples. Its frontal view shows the area from the bottom of the collarbone to that just underneath the breasts. Individualized with a beauty mark on the proper right breast, the breasts are modeled in gradations of color and shade, giving a three-dimensional effect. Although Goodridge was aged forty when she painted this miniature, according to the art critic Chris Packard her breasts seem younger, with a "balance, paleness, and buoyancy" which is imbued in part by the harmony of light and color. The use of thin ivory allows some light to shine through, providing "a subtle yet ethereal glow." The breasts are framed by a swirl of pale cloth, which in parts reflects the light.

The painting, measuring 2.6 by 3.1 inches (6.7 by 8 cm), is today mounted in a leather case with a hinged lid and two clasps; it had originally been installed on a paper backing which had the date "1828" on the reverse. The work is a watercolor painting on ivory, thin enough for light to shine through and thus allow the depicted breasts to "glow". This medium was common for American miniatures, and Goodridge was skilled in shaping and preparing ivory plaques for her portraiture. In this case, the medium also served as a simile for the flesh presented upon it, providing a tactile surface that could be touched in lieu of the depicted subject. Such a physical component was common in early 19th-century miniatures, and literature from the time describes miniatures as being caressed, spoken with, or even kissed.

Beauty Revealed was completed during a period of popularity of portrait miniatures, a medium that had been introduced in the United States in the late 18th century. By the time Goodridge completed her self-portrait, miniatures were increasing in complexity and vibrance; the genre was particularly common among women artists, who were perceived as having what the art scholar Emily Gerhold describes as the "delicate sense of touch" necessary. The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History describes Beauty Revealed as a play on the eye miniatures which were then popular as tokens of affection in England and France, but not common in the United States. Such miniatures allowed portraits of loved ones to be carried by their suitors without revealing the sitters' identities; similarly, by omitting her face, Goodridge ensured that she would not be associated with Beauty Revealed should it be discovered.

In the early 19th century, the nude was a rare subject for painters in the United States. Works that depicted the naked female form tended to present Native Americans or, borrowing from the European tradition, stories from Greek and Roman mythologies. Even these were controversial, and works by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, Rembrandt Peale, and John Vanderlyn had sparked outcry when exhibited in the early 19th century. Beauty Revealed and its focus on bared female breasts, thus, was unique. The title may be an allusion to the subject matter; cultural materials from the time often used the term beauty euphemistically to refer to breasts.

The artist, Sarah Goodridge, was a prolific Boston-based portrait miniature painter who had studied under Gilbert Stuart and Elkanah Tisdale. She had a long-term association with Daniel Webster, a politician who began serving as a senator from Massachusetts in 1827. Webster sent her more than forty letters between 1827 and 1851, and in time, his greetings to her became increasingly familiar; his last letters were addressed to "My dear, good friend", which was uncharacteristic of his usual writing style. She, meanwhile, painted him more than a dozen times, produced several portraits of his family, and lent him money regularly. Goodridge left her hometown of Boston to visit him in Washington, D.C. at least twice, once in 1828 after his first wife's death and again in 1841–42, when Webster was separated from his second wife.

Goodridge completed Beauty Revealed in 1828, potentially from looking at herself in a mirror, though the arrangement of the cloth suggests a lying or reclined position. Several works have been cited as possible inspirations, including John Vanderlyn's Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos and Horatio Greenough's sculpture Venus Victrix. Goodridge sent her portrait to Webster when he was a new widower, and, based on its miniature format, it was likely intended for his eyes alone. The American art critic John Updike suggests that the artist intended it to offer herself to Webster; he writes that the bared breasts appear to say "We are yours for the taking, in all our ivory loveliness, with our tenderly stippled nipples". Ultimately, Webster married another, wealthier woman, who was more advantageous to his political ambitions.