Shown from the chest up, a balding, light-skinned man wears a port-red vest and coat in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s shoulders are angled to our right, but he turns his head to look at us from the corners of gray eyes under heavy, brown brows. His under-eyes are shaded blue and lined with wrinkles. He has a bumped nose, bow-shaped lips, a round chin, fleshy, flushed cheeks, and sagging jowls. His white hair sweeps up and to either side of a bald patch, painted with a white sheen, on the top of his head. Curls come down over each ear and longer hair in the back is tied with a…
Gallery mode Full size at the museum

John Adams

painter Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755 - 1828)

c. 1821

Medium
oil on wood
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 66 x 54.5 cm (26 x 21 7/16 in.)
Culture
American
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CAB
Credit line
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art

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