John C. Calhoun

Savinien Edme Dubourjal

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At the time he sat for this portrait, Calhoun, one of the preeminent American statesmen of the nineteenth century, was serving as United States Senator from South Carolina. Dubourjal does not idealize his portrait, but emphasizes the striking features of Calhoun’s visage: his piercing, deep-set eyes, high brow, thin lips, and hollow cheeks. The delicate cross-hatching on the face and in the background contrasts with the full, sinuous lines in the hair. Color is used sparingly, only in the face, and there are touches of white gouache on the eyes, collar, and shirt. The drawing may have been acquired by author and poet Anne Charlotte Lynch shortly after its completion; it was exhibited at the National Academy of Design, New York, in 1847, together with a miniature portrait of her by Dubourjal (95.2.3).

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art