Preston Hodges
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
27 x 22 in. (68.6 x 55.9 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Seddie Boardman Aspell, 1927
Accession Number
27.145
Tags
Art Historical Context
Charles Loring Elliott's *Preston Hodges* (1850) captures the dignified presence of its sitter in a classic oil-on-canvas portrait, a medium prized in 19th-century America for ability to render lifelike textures, from the subtle sheen of fabric to the nuanced play of light on skin. Measuring 27 x 22 inches, this-scale work exemplifies the era's portraiture tradition, where artists like Elliott specialized in commemorating prominent individuals with realistic detail and psychological depth. Painted amid the antebellum United States, just a decade before the Civil War, the portrait reflects a b...
About the Artist
Charles Loring Elliott · 1812–1868
Comment on works: painter