Alexander N. Fullerton

James Forbes · 1865

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

134 × 100.4 cm (52 3/4 × 39 1/2 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Romanticism

Painted in the year the Civil War ended, this formal portrait of Alexander N. Fullerton carries the composed dignity typical of mid-nineteenth century American portraiture — a quiet record of a man rendered with care and permanence. James Forbes worked as a portrait painter in an era when likeness and character were considered equally important, and his handling of light on the face reflects the influence of European academic training that shaped so many American painters of his generation. The restrained palette and confident brushwork in this piece suggest a practitioner who understood that understatement, not showmanship, gave a portrait its lasting authority. Forbes brought that sensibility to a range of commissions, and his work is today preserved in several institutional collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute acquired this canvas as part of its effort to document American portraiture of the period, recognising Forbes as a credible chronicler of the era's merchant and civic class. Our hand-painted oil reproduction faithfully recreates the tonal depth and surface texture of the original, giving you the presence of a genuine painted canvas — not a print — hung in your own space.