Portrait of an Officer

About this work

You see a man in a bright red military coat with gold buttons and a white collar. His hair is powdered white, and his face looks freshly shaved. This tiny portrait—smaller than a playing card—was painted on ivory. The artist used a trick called back-painting: red paint on the back of the ivory makes the coat glow. The man’s rank is hidden because his left shoulder is cut off. To see more tiny portraits like this, look up John I Smart (British, 1741–1811).