James Stuart
1800–1805
Medium
Watercolor on ivory
Dimensions
2 1/16 x 1 11/16 in. (5.2 x 4.3 cm)
Classification
Painting, miniature
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 2006
Accession Number
2006.235.277
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate miniature portrait of James Stuart, painted by Joseph Wood between 1800 and 1805, captures the refined tastes of early American society. Created in watercolor on ivory, the work measures just over two inches tall, a format that allowed such images to be worn as jewelry or treasured in private collections. Wood, an American artist active in the early nineteenth century, specialized in these intimate likenesses that blended European traditions with the emerging identity of the young republic. The choice of ivory as a support gave the portrait a luminous, almost jewel-like quality,...
About the Artist
Joseph Wood · 1778–1830
1778–1830