Artwork
Officer in a Red Coat
Officer in a Red Coat is a watercolor painting by the Baroque artist John Ramage. It dates from 1775 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
A man in a bright red coat looks straight out, his face barely an inch tall on smooth ivory, set in a thin gold frame that turns it into a wearable locket. John Ramage painted it in 1775 to be carried, not hung, choosing a tight close-up so the sitter feels real even at this size.
Subject & Meaning
The work is executed in watercolor on ivory and housed within a gold locket, a format typical for intimate, personal portraiture of the era.
John Ramage's 1775 work, Officer in a Red Coat, is a miniature portrait depicting a male subject. Classified as a portrait, the piece presents a man, though the provided sources do not elaborate on specific iconographic details, symbolic elements, or the deeper meaning behind the subject's representation beyond his identification as an officer. The work is executed in watercolor on ivory and housed within a gold locket, a format typical for intimate, personal portraiture of the era.
While the title suggests a military affiliation indicated by the red coat, the available documentation restricts the description to the basic identification of the sitter as a man and the genre of the piece, without further interpretation of the uniform's symbolic weight or the sitter's specific identity.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1775, the miniature is painted in watercolor on a thin ivory support set within a gold locket frame, measuring roughly 3.2 cm × 3.5 cm. The intimate scale is typical of late-eighteenth-century American portrait miniatures. The available sources do not document specific details of the brushwork, pigments, or current condition of the work.
History & Provenance
John Ramage painted Officer in a Red Coat in 1775 as a watercolor on ivory set in a gold locket, a small portrait measuring roughly 3.2 × 3.5 cm. The work entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is catalogued in The American Wing. Its genre is recorded as a portrait, and it depicts a man in uniform. The painting's provenance is limited to its presence in the museum's collection, with no further documented owners, sales, or exhibition history noted in the available records.
Overview
John Ramage, an Irish-born American artist, created Officer in a Red Coat in 1775. This watercolor on ivory, encased in a gold locket, exemplifies the miniature portraiture for which Ramage was known. Such small-scale works were common during the Rococo period, designed for personal possession rather than display in a larger setting.
Context
Working in America during the Rococo era, John Ramage specialized in these highly detailed, small-format portraits. His skill in this specialized genre later led to significant commissions, including a portrait of George Washington in 1790. This particular work reflects the demand for portable, personal likenesses in the late 18th century.
Artist & collection
Artist
John Ramage (1748 – 24 October 1802) was an Irish American artist, goldsmith, patroller, and second lieutenant.
