(Portrait Sketch of an Actor)
ca. 1830
- Medium
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 50.9 × 40.4 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-140340
This unfinished portrait captures the guile and wariness of an actor who very likely had to struggle for a living. America’s middle class in the nineteenth century regarded actors as little better than peddlers and cardsharps. Only a few, such as Edwin Booth and Fanny Kemble, managed to achieve a measure of respectability. The uncertain, appraising look in the man’s eyes undercuts the cocky assur…
Provenance
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase
Registry history
- ca. 1830 — Recorded in the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum
Registered on Collect24
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