"Speaking generally,

"no penance is like having one's picture done. You must sit in a constrained and unnatural position, which is a trial to the temper.

"But I should like to sit for [Gilbert] Stuart from the first of January to the last of December, for he lets me do just what I please, and keeps me constantly amused by his conversation."—John Adams, 1825

Cushioned in the protective corner of a cherry red sofa, John Adams sits with the dignity of an elder statesman. His direct gaze and bemused expression hint at his legendary intellectual prowess and strength of character. A major figure in the revolutionary government, Adams later served as second president of the United States and as a postwar diplomat. The portrait commemorates a lifetime of service to the new American nation.

See this artwork among the many gems in Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which opens today at the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Source: Gwen Everett. Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).

Pictured: Gilbert Stuart, 1755–1828, John Adams, 1826, oil, 30 x 25 1/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Adams-Clement Collection, Gift of Mary Louisa Adams Clement in memory of her mother, Louisa Catherine Adams Clement.