"Profile of a Gentleman"

Dateca. 1820

Attributed to Rufus Porter (1792-1884)

MediumWatercolor, ink, and gouache on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary support: 4 3/8" x 3 13/16" and Framed: 5 13/16" x 4 13/16"

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1936.300.5

DescriptionOval format profile portrait of young man facing left. He wears a dark blue coat shaded with gloss black with white gouache buttons; a gray striped vest, white ruffled stock, and white upturned collar showing at the chest and neck. The features of the face are very delicately rendered and shaded with a stippling technique; the lips are red, eye blue, eyebrow brown. The structure of the ear is pronounced and very crisp. Delineation of the hair is quite detailed; the hair is dark brown with a gentle wave over the forehead and lightly feathered at the temples. Outside the boundaries of the oval the artist has used the paper as a palette for testing the various colors used in the portrait. Period replacement 5/8-inch molded frames, painted black.
Label TextThis likeness of a man and accompanying watercolor portrait of a woman (1936.300.4) exhibit the general characteristics of Rufus Porter's "side views painted in full colors" which he advertised and illustrated on his printed handbill. The construction of the ears, eyes, and distinctive manner in which he rendered womens' lace ruffs and mens' stocks is consistent in the group of profile works on paper for which he is said to have charged one dollar a piece. Another practice observed in the execution of this portrait and several other Porter miniatures is the use of the borders of the paper (which was covered in the framing) as a sort of test palette. This can be learned from the artist's instructions for painting miniature portraits which he published in the Scientific American on January 22, 1846.
ProvenanceFound in Newburyport, Mass.; Katrina Kipper, Accord, Jass.; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; Given to C. W. by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.