American Artist: Julius Rubens Ames

Redheaded Jacksonian Era Gentleman

American
circa 1830-1835
by Julius Rubens Ames (1801-1850)

1 9/16 x 1 7/8 inches (sight)

watercolor on ivory; housed under glass in a gilt copper
case with a cast foliate border and bail, and a glazed compartment
to the reverse containing a tintype photo of the subject at an older age

A view of the reverse side of the portrait miniature's case, where a
tintype photograph of an older man (presumably the same individual
depicted in the painted portrait to the obverse) is housed in a glazed
compartment. Tintype photos didn't exist until the 1850s, and were
more common in the 1860s, so the photograph of the older man was
clearly added decades after the portrait was painted, perhaps replacing
plated hair or a swatch of silk, which were commonly placed in such
compartments in the 1830s.

A view of the portrait outside its case, allowing its colors and
brush strokes to be seen more clearly without the distortion or
reflection typically caused by the glass lens of a miniature's case
(Click + symbol above for an enlarged view)

Other portraits in the Tormey-Holder Collection by Julius Rubens Ames
(click photos for larger views and additional information):

Gray-Haired Jacksonian Era Gentleman