Silhouette portrait of a gentleman

Silohuette portrait of a gentleman represented in left profile against a light beige ground. The sitter is depicted with a high forehead, a prominent straight nose, softly modelled lips, and a rounded chin. His hair is arranged in the fashion of the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, swept forward over the crown in softly waved locks and cut shorter at the nape of the neck.

The gentleman wears a high-standing neckcloth wrapped closely around the neck and rising toward the jawline. Beneath it appears a ruffled shirt front emerging from the opening of the coat. His outer garment is a double-breasted coat with broad lapels, sloping shoulders, and two rows of prominent buttons, characteristic of fashionable men’s dress of the period. 

Executed in the silhouette tradition, the figure is rendered in dark tones with subtle modelling that accentuates the profile and costume details. The portrait is enclosed within an oval gilt-metal mount set into a black rectangular frame.