American Art Collaborative

John Henry Brown chose to paint this miniature from a daguerreotype he made of United States president James Buchanan (1791-1868), and took great satisfaction in the likeness. James Buchanan Henry, the president’s nephew and ward, later wrote a biography of his uncle, commenting that “The best likeness of him is a miniature portrait on ivory, by Brown of Philadelphia . . . Buchanan was tall---over six feet, broad shouldered, and had a portly and dignified bearing . . . his features [were] strong and well marked, [and] his eyes were blue, intelligent and kindly, with the peculiarity that one was far and the other near sighted, which resulted in a slight habitual inclination of the head to one side.”