Unknown Gentleman

Periodca. 1820 - 1825

MediumPastel on paper; reverse painting on glass

Dimensions25.5 × 19.5 in. (64.8 × 49.5 cm)

ClassificationsPortraits

Credit LineMuseum Collection

Object number1984.527

DescriptionThree-quarter portrait of a young gentleman facing right, with a thin face, blue eyes, brown hair brushed forward over forehead, and long sideburns. He wears a black coat with wide lapels, a white shirt with high collar and ruffles, a white stock, and an oval stick pin at chest height. The portrait is mounted under its original glass which has a decorative reverse-painted border consisting of a cluster of gilt leafy branches in the four corners that are bound together with a ribbon. The clipped corners form an elongated octagon that is rimmed with a silver stripe. The background is mottled blue fading to white.
Curatorial RemarksThe attribution of this work to James Martin replaces a former attribution of this group of pastel portraits to William M. S. Doyle of Boston. Martin arrived in New York from England about 1794, and advertised the following year in a New Jersey newspaper. He is known to have worked in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey until about 1820. Martin's itinerant travels took him to central and southern New Jersey especially. The backgrounds of his portraits often feature white or a rosy pink color fading to dark gray or blue, as it does in this depiction of an unknown gentleman. The use of reverse painting on the glass to create an elongated octagon shape is a framing technique Martin also favored.

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