Jonas Platt 1828

Samuel Morse's oil on canvas portrait of "Jonas Platt," now at the Brooklyn Museum, immediately strikes us with its sombre palette and the sitter's reserved demeanor. The composition is rigidly structured around a contrast between dark, almost impenetrable blacks of Platt’s coat and the muted reds and whites that peek from behind. This stark contrast isn't merely decorative; it embodies a tension between concealment and revelation. The books beneath Platt's hand, symbols of knowledge and public life, are rendered as geometric blocks. They suggest a mind grounded in rationality, even as the swirling drapery behind hints at a more complex emotional landscape. Morse orchestrates a play of surfaces, from the soft modelling of Platt’s face to the sharp edges of the book. This interplay destabilizes a straightforward reading of character, presenting us with a subject caught between public persona and private reflection. What we are left with is an unresolved relationship between the objective and the subjective, mirroring perhaps, the very act of portraiture itself.