Behind the art: 'Portrait of John Gardiner' at The Westmoreland shows exquisite detail

Clothing style from the 1700s is on display in a portrait by artist John Singleton Copley that indicates its subject likely was a lawyer.

“Portrait of John Gardiner,” which hangs at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, includes exquisite detail of the garments the subject was wearing — a gray suit with death head buttons over a white ruffled shirt — said Erica Nuckles, director of learning, engagement and partnerships.

“The detail of the clothing to me is so incredible,” she said. “(Copley’s) able to really sort of show (Gardiner’s) finery that he’s wearing.”

The artist, born in Boston in 1738, likely created the painting around 1758. Copley became a renowned portrait artist among a group of fellow painters who were producing “very beautiful, very true-to-life works,” Nuckles said.

Copley captured several figures notable in the birth of America in his portraits, including John Quincy Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere, according to johnsingleton copley.org.

Nuckles said she is fascinated by the outfits portrait subjects were wearing in that era, which help to pinpoint a date in which the painting was created.

“Where did it come from? How was style changing?” she said.

Gardiner likely would have hired Copley to do the portrait and then possibly sent the finished product to family members elsewhere. The portrait shows him seated at a small table with a green tablecloth, his left hand resting on two law books while the right points off into the distance. He is wearing a white powdered wig that would have been worn in a courtroom.

Such portraits often given an indication of what its subject did for a living, Nuckles said. Gardiner was attorney general of St. Kitts in the West Indies, according to the museum.