(From Sketchbook)

Art Historical Context

This delicate sketch from Thomas Sully's sketchbook created between 1810 and 1820, offers a rare glimpse into the working process of one of America's foremost portrait painters. Sully (1783–1872), a Philadelphia-based artist influenced by British Romantics like Sir Joshua Reynolds, was renowned for his luminous portraits of prominent figures, including presidents and royalty. During this early phase of his career, he filled sketchbooks with rapid studies of everyday subjects—here, figures including children, men, and women—capturing the vitality of American life amid the young nation's post-Revolutionary growth. Executed in ink and wash on paper (9 x 11½ in.), the work exemplifies the fluidity of these media, where dilute ink creates subtle tonal washes to model forms and evoke light and shadow with economical strokes. Such sketches were preparatory tools for Sully's grand oil portraits, revealing his keen observation of human gesture and expression. Housed in The Met's American Wing, this piece, acquired via the Rogers Fund in 1953, underscores the intimacy of 19th-century draftsmanship and Sully's role in elevating American portraiture to international standards. A charming window into an artist's studio!

About the Artist

Thomas Sully · 1783–1872

Thomas Sully, born on June 19, 1783, in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to actor parents Matthew Sully and Sarah Chester, emigrated with his family to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1792. Raised in a theatrical environment, young Thomas debuted as a tumbler at age 11 before discovering his artistic talent. He studied miniature painting with his brother Lawrence Sully, brother-in-law Jean Belzon...