Job Perit

Art Historical Context

**Job Perit** (1790) by Reuben Moul is a striking oil-on-canvas portrait measuring 36 1/8 x 29 3/4 inches, housed in The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art This work captures the poised figure of Job Perit, a man whose direct gaze and formal attire evoke the poised confidence of early post-Revolutionary America. Donated in 1965 by Edgar and Bernice Chrysler Garisch, it exemplifies the tradition of commissioned portraits that celebrated individual status amid the young nation's growth. Painted at the dawn of the Federal period, the piece reflects how American artists like Moulthrop drew on European portrait conventions while forging a native style suited to merchants and professionals. Oil on canvas allowed for luminous skin tones, detailed fabrics, and subtle modeling that brought subjects to life, making such paintings cherished family heirlooms and symbols of prosperity. As a quintessential example of late 18th-century American portraiture, **Job Perit** offers visitors a window into the era's social aspirations, where art preserved personal legacies in an expanding republic.