Artwork
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Man is an unspecified painting by the American Folk Art artist John Wesley Jarvis. It dates from 1810 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
Portrait of a Man by John Wesley Jarvis is classified as a painting and identified within its genre as a portrait miniature.
Portrait of a Man by John Wesley Jarvis is classified as a painting and identified within its genre as a portrait miniature. The work dates to 1810 and is held in the Cleveland Museum of Art under accession reference 1940.1213.1. As a miniature, it would have been executed on a small-scale support suited to the format, a handling characteristic of American miniaturist practice of the early nineteenth century.
History & Provenance
The 1810 portrait miniature by John Wesley Jarvis is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland. The work is cataloged under the accession number 1940.1213.1. No specific exhibition history is recorded in the available sources for this piece.
Context
The 1810 portrait miniature by American artist John Wesley Jarvis depicts an unidentified sitter and exemplifies early United States portraiture. Executed in the miniature format, the work was produced during the formative period of American miniaturists and is now part of the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. Its classification as a painting and portrait within the museum's holdings underscores its significance as a representative example of Jarvis's output and of the broader development of portrait miniatures in the United States during the first decades of the nineteenth century.
Overview
This painting, titled Portrait of a Man, was created by John Wesley Jarvis in 1810. The small, circular artwork depicts an unidentified male subject, now part of the collection at The Cleveland Museum of Art. It presents a focused study of the sitter, characterized by a direct gaze and a subdued palette, typical of early 19th-century portraiture.
Subject & Meaning
The portrait features a man dressed in a dark coat and a high white collar, a common fashion of the era. His pale complexion is contrasted by dark eyebrows, and his expression is notably serious, conveying a sense of gravity or introspection. The plain, light background serves to isolate the figure, directing the viewer's full attention to the sitter's face and demeanor.
Artist & collection
Artist
John Wesley Jarvis (1781–1839) was an American artist, born in South Shields.
