Portrait of a Man, Jacob Eichholtz, ca. 1809
Jacob Eichholtz, portraitJacob EichholtzAmerican, 1776–1842

Portrait of a Man

ca. 1809 · Painting · 25.3 × 19.7 cm

Can I see it?

Yes, on view now

Where is “Portrait of a Man” now? Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 1A, Washington, D.C. Yes, on view now. Checked September 25, 2026.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Washington, D.C., United States

RoomLuce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 1A

Closed· opens tomorrow at 11:30 AM

On public display.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum

About the painting

Portrait of a Man and Portrait of a Woman were painted to hang as a pair, the two sitters facing one another as husband and wife. The profile was a common portrait style in America’s first decades, and these paintings show the softer line and naturalistic modeling that Jacob Eichholtz favored in his later profile portraits. Eichholtz was a savvy businessman. He ran a smithing business and charged the same amount for framed portraits as he did for copper teakettles or lanterns, making the portraits as affordable as other essential household items. From 1801 until 1811, he produced many profiles and sold them for such a fair price that he became the leading portraitist in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (Ryan, The Worlds of Jacob Eichholtz: Portrait Painter of the Early Republic, 2003).

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Details

Accession number
1964.6.2

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

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In the same room · Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 1A, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Museum page

On the same theme · Man

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