Smithsonian American Art Museum
Man with Gold Pencil
Prior-Hamblen School, n.d. · ca. 1850
Sturtevant Hamblin and William Matthew Prior charged their patrons higher prices for their portraits according to the amount of shading and detail they requested. The artists would have charged a high price for this portrait, since they included the pleats in the gentleman’s shirt and the shadows around the cleft of his chin. The gold pencil, which he wears around his neck, marks this sitter as a man of letters.
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