John Ramage, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1780–90

Chicago:

Maggie Keenan, “John Ramage, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1780–90,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 1, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.3110.

MLA:

Keenan, Maggie. “John Ramage, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1780–90,” catalogue entry. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan. The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, vol. 1, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.3110.

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

Unlike John Ramage’s usual male subjects in military regalia, this unidentified man wears a simple buff linen coat.¹ The coat’s style, specifically the deep, turned-down collar, dates the painting to around 1780–90.² During this period, Ramage practiced in New York City after relocating from Halifax, Nova Scotia, as early as 1777.³ The sitter could be a retired general or, more likely, a merchant; New York was one of four major American ports at the time and had a highly productive financial and agricultural industry, particularly in grain.⁴

Ramage employs a sketch-like technique in his portrayal, notably in the facial details. The background is densely hatched, except for the water-damaged area above the sitter’s left shoulder. While the coat appears to be an afterthought, the cravat garners attention with its opaque white dots and decorative curls and dashes.

Ramage’s subjects often face slightly to the right, with a highlight painted along one side of their faces. Here the artist has also painted a golden glow behind the man’s head, complemented by subtle blue accents on his cheek edge, mouth, and striking blue eyes. His stern gaze and furrowed brows convey the impression of a man weathered by life in early New York.

Notes

1. For a similar portrait, see John Ramage, Thomas Witter, ca. 1786–87, watercolor on ivory, 1 11/16 x 1 3/8 in. (4.3 x 3.5 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/15159.

2. See Coat, 1780–89, wool and silk, brass, and gold, 10 1/16 in. (25.5 cm) long, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127201/coat-unknown. Ramage rarely signed or dated his work.

3. John Hill Morgan, A Sketch of The Life of John Ramage: Miniature Painter (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1930), 8.

4. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, lecture notes for “The Regional Economies of Colonial America” (for course Political Economy of Early America, University of Pennsylvania), December 28, 2022, slides 17, 41, 45, https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/PEEA_4_Regional_Economies_Colonial_America.pdf. The other major ports were Philadelphia, Boston, and Charleston, SC.

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 225, as Unknown Man.

Martha Jane and John W. Starr, “Collecting Portrait Miniatures,” Antiques 80, no. 5 (November 1961): 439, (repro.), as Unknown Man.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 225, p. 74 (repro.), as Unknown Man.