American Art Collaborative

Inman is associated with large-scale portraits, but he also produced miniatures. He was born in Utica, N.Y., and apprenticed in New York City with the American artist John Wesley Jarvis (1781-1840). He helped to found the National Academy of Design and served as its first vice president. The subject is William Masters Camac (1802-1842), shown at waist length with grey hair parted on the right, seated on a pale red chair, the back of which is visible at the left shoulder. He wears a black coat, black vest, white shirt and black stock tied in a bow. He died in 1842 at the age of 40, leaving his wife, pictured in WAM 38.470, a wealthy widow. The frame is not original and is later than the portrait.