John Adams

Amerikanische Malerei 1815–1826, c. 1821

Shown from the chest up, a balding, light-skinned man wears a port-red vest and coat in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s shoulders are angled to our right, but he turns his head to look at us from the corners of gray eyes under heavy, brown brows. His under-eyes are shaded blue and lined with wrinkles. He has a bumped nose, bow-shaped lips, a round chin, fleshy, flushed cheeks, and sagging jowls. His white hair sweeps up and to either side of a bald patch, painted with a white sheen, on the top of his head. Curls come down over each ear and longer hair in the back is tied with a black ribbon. He wears a white ruffled cravat under the deep red vest and coat, both of which have gold-colored buttons down the front. The background lightens from earth brown in the upper left corner to paler, peanut brown in the lower right.
Artist
Amerikanische Malerei 1815–1826
Date
c. 1821
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
66 × 54.5 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

Shown from the chest up, a balding, light-skinned man wears a port-red vest and coat in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s shoulders are angled to our right, but he turns his head to look at us from the corners of gray eyes under heavy, brown brows. His under-eyes are shaded blue and lined with wrinkles. He has a bumped nose, bow-shaped lips, a round chin, fleshy, flushed cheeks, and sagging jowls. His white hair sweeps up and to either side of a bald patch, painted with a white sheen, on the top of his head. Curls come down over each ear and longer hair in the back is tied with a black ribbon. He wears a white ruffled cravat under the deep red vest and coat, both of which have gold-colored buttons down the front. The background lightens from earth brown in the upper left corner to paler, peanut brown in the lower right.

Amerikanische Malerei 1815–1826