Richard Stockton 1791

John Trumbull sketched this portrait of Richard Stockton with graphite on paper. Graphite, essentially carbon, offers a direct, immediate way to capture form. Note the texture of the paper, its slight roughness that catches the graphite, creating a subtle, almost atmospheric quality. This isn't just a drawing; it's a record of a hand moving across a surface, each line a decision, a correction. Trumbull, as a portraitist, moved within a social structure, producing likenesses that signified status and power. Yet, the act of drawing itself, the labor involved, democratizes the image. While Stockton was an elite figure, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the drawing reveals the process of representation, the hand of the artist shaping history. The immediacy of graphite serves to remind us that all images, even those of the powerful, are constructed, made through a specific labor. Considering the making, the hand and materials involved, we move beyond merely observing the subject to understanding how he has been represented.