Alexander Hamilton

John Trumbull

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the chest up, a pale-skinned man wearing a coat and cravat looks off to our left with his chin tipped slightly up in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s shoulders and chest face us, but he turns to the left to look off in that direction with blue eyes under straight brows that angle up toward the center. He has a straight nose, rosy cheeks, full, bow-shaped lips, and a double chin. His wavy gray hair is brushed back from his high forehead and falls to his ears. His ivory-white ascot has a lacy border and is tied snugly around his neck with a bow in front. It is tucked into the high collar of his camel-brown jacket. His right arm, on our left, angles away from his body while the other is close to his side. He is warmly lit from the front set against a dark brown background.