James Hall
Unknown artist, possibly Henry Williams American
Not on view
This bust-length pastel portrait depicts James Hall, an American seaman born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in ca. 1786. He is fashionably dressed in a black coat, white shirt, and cravat with a portrait miniature pinned to his chest. Set against a blue background, Hall looks directly at the viewer, his austere facial expression softened by the wispy blonde locks of hair that cascade over his forehead. The artist deftly manipulated his pastel crayons to accurately capture a variety of textures—from the soft, velvety fabric of his overcoat to the crisply defined edges of his starched white shirt. Although unsigned, the portrait may be by Henry Williams, an active pastel and watercolor miniature painter working in New England in the early nineteenth century.
