Martin Van Buren (?)

In many of Shepard Alonzo Mount's early portraits, his subjects are seated before an open window. The device of the window, which gives a painting the illusion of depth and allows the artist to bring nature into a composition, had been popular in the United States from the Colonial period (see for example John Singleton Copley's Sarah Jackson in an adjacent gallery).

Henry E. Huntington purchased the painting as a portrait of the eighth president of the United States, Martin van Buren. If it does depict van Buren, the Hudson River landscape may refer to his political ties to New York state, while the folded paper in his hand could be a piece of legislation. However, the likeness does not resemble other portraits of van Buren, and the identity of the sitter is now questioned.

Mount was the brother of genre painter William Sidney Mount. While Shepard specialized in portraiture, he also produced accomplished landscapes and still lifes.