Portrait of a Man

The portrait illustrated here of an unknown man is painted in a manner that is instantly recognizable as an Earl format. From the heavily contrasting folds of the sitter's pale green jacket, to the highlighted buttons deep under-shadows, the costume is executed similarly to that of Earl's portraits of David Baldwin, Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, and Noah Smith. The stance of the sitter adjacent to filing shelves and with his papers before him is particularly evocative of Earl's portrait of Elijah Boardman. For further information, see Kornhauser, Ralph Earl: The Face of the Young Republic (New Haven, 1991), esp. p. 49, fig. 1.26; pp. 172-175, fig. 37; and p. 219.