Man in Yellow Chair

Unidentified, Man in Yellow Chair, ca. 1820, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.149
Copied Unidentified, Man in Yellow Chair, ca. 1820, oil on canvas, 3024 18 in. (76.261.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.149
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Artwork Details

Title
Man in Yellow Chair
Artist
Unidentified
Date
ca. 1820
Dimensions
3024 18 in. (76.261.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Portrait male — unidentified
Object Number
1986.65.149

Artwork Description

In the early nineteenth century, prosperous Americans along the eastern seaboard hired traveling artists to create their portraits in a forthright style made popular in colonial times by itinerant limners. This portrait of an unidentified gentleman follows that style, with strong lines that suggest, but don’t realistically replicate, the man’s features and the details of his costume. Most clients for such portraits lived outside the major urban centers of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, and it is likely that this gentleman was a plantation owner of some means.