Portrait of a Gentleman
ca. 1829
Medium
Watercolor on ivory
Dimensions
3 1/16 x 2 3/8 in. (7.8 x 6 cm)
Classification
Painting, miniature
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 2006
Accession Number
2006.235.284
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of early 19th-century American portrait with Eliza Goodridge's *Portrait a Gentleman* (ca. 1829). This delicate watercolor on ivory, measuring just 3 1/16 x 2 3/8 inches, captures the sitter's dignified gaze and period attire in exquisite detail. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, it exemplifies the miniaturist tradition, where small-scale portraits served as cherished personal keepsakes, often worn in lockets or displayed in cases. Goodridge, a skilled American miniaturist active in the 1820s and 1830s, mastered the challenging watercolor-on...