Portrait of a Man (Possibly Peter Vogelsang Sr.)

American 19th Century

National Gallery of Art

This painting depicts a man seated in a chair and facing forward, with his head slightly turned to the left. He has light brown skin, short black hair, prominent sideburns, and brown eyes, with his face is in a neutral expression. His left arm rests over the back of the gilded wooden chair he sits in, and his right hand is tucked into his suit jacket. He is dressed in a black coat with large gold buttons running down the front and on the cuffs. Under the coat is a stiff white collar and a black kerchief or tie, as well as a square orange gem set in gold. The background is mostly a gray-green wall, but on the left side there is a thin vertical window showing a view of a green river with a steamboat on it and rocky red cliffs covered in green trees under a cloudy blue sky.