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Member of the Yates Family
ca. 1780
- Medium
- watercolor on ivory
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- sight 1 5/8 x 1 3/8 in. (4.1 x 3.5 cm) oval
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), 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 Smithsonian Institution
About this work
Mr. Yates’s hair, with its two curls above each ear, reflects the style of the late eighteenth century when men made the transition from wigs to their own, often powdered, hair. The sitter’s elongated nose, thin lips, sad eyes, and weak jawline give him a feeble appearance, and he may have chosen to wear a vibrantly colored coat in his portrait to compensate for these timid features.
