John Stone

Thomas Skynner's portrait of John Stone, painted around 1845, represents the American folk portrait tradition during its final decades before photography supplanted painted likenesses. Skynner, an itinerant artist working in New England, produced straightforward, competent portraits for middle-class clients. His work documents the continuing demand for painted portraits in rural America even as daguerreotypes became increasingly available.

Skynner's oil-on-canvas technique renders the sitter with the direct, unaffected manner of American provincial portraiture. The solid modeling and clear coloring demonstrate competent if conventional technique, with careful attention to the sitter's features and expression.