Technical Notes
The primary support is a coarsely woven plain-weave canvas. There are selvage edges on both the left and right tacking edges. There is an average of thirteen weft threads per centimeter and sixteen warp threads per centimeter. The unprimed tacking edges and marked cusping both suggest that Earl primed the canvas.

There is a 1 by 1.2-centimeter loss of original canvas in the upper-right corner. There is a small multibranched tear in a 3 by 4.2-centimeter area in the upper-left background, 12.5 centimeters from the sitter’s right cheek. In addition, there is a 3.2-centimeter diagonal tear on the upper right of the sitter’s forehead and a 1.3-centimeter tear at the bottom-center in the lower part of the vest.

The white ground layer is unevenly applied and does not completely extend to the edge of the design area. The canvas-weave texture is much more prominent along the margins of the painting than elsewhere in the painting—an effect due to the lack of ground layer.

There is low impasto on the highlights of the sword handle, the ruffles of the cravat, and the epaulet. Earl initially painted the contours of the arms and jacket with black outline. He painted the final layers of the hair wet-on-wet with a heavy opaque paint. The jacket lapel and the hand and hat at the bottom-left have been reworked, and changes are now partially visible as pentimenti. Differences in the crackle pattern in the lower area of the painting suggest that compositional changes were made, possibly after Earl completed the work. In addition to age cracks typical of paintings this old, there are wide-aperture drying cracks on the hands, legs, and hat. Further signs of changes are the drying cracks on the proper left hand that reveal an underlying paint layer of flesh tone. Also, underlying brushstrokes that do not seem to correspond to the image are evident in the area of the hat and hands.

Overlapping paint layers suggest that the blue of the sky was painted after the jacket and before the white cravat. The vest and jacket were painted after the face. Much of the landscape was done using a wet-on-wet technique. Evidence of a reddish-brown underlying paint layer in the sky and along edges of the jacket, particularly the proper left shoulder, suggests the possible use of a preliminary painted sketch or imprimatura layer.

A few randomly placed small drops of underlying red paint are visible in the brown paint on the proper left elbow, in the sky to the left of the face, and on the edge of the proper left lapel. Based on an examination of cross sections of the paint layer, the red droplets appear to be a component of the mixture of the brown color used to paint the coat and do not reflect changes or the presence of a discrete underlying layer. A noticeable demarcation in color exists between the area in the sky painted on top of the ground layer and the outer margins, where there is no ground layer. There are also small scattered losses throughout as well as a slight flattening of impasto.

Differences in the tan areas of the jacket, vest, and pants may be the result of uneven cleaning or early reworking. The upper area of the jacket and vest appear lighter and show less residue and grime than the pants, sleeve cuffs, and lower facings. Treatment done in 1978 involved removing large areas of overpaint and an old glue lining. The painting was relined onto a fabric support with wax-resin adhesive. Scattered retouching has discolored slightly.

The present varnish consists of Acryloid B-72, applied in 1978. This varnish is moderately thick and even, and shows no signs of discoloration. There are, however, areas of blanching visible in the varnish layer, particularly in the dark browns of the jacket; presumably, these are remnants of a previous coating that are now somewhat discolored and cloudy.

Frame Notes
The frame, probably original to the painting, is a gilded softwood with applied composition ornament and mitered corners. The layered surface seems to consist of gesso, yellow bole, brown bole, and gilding. The sight edge has an applied tongue-and-dart ornament, and there is a central band of half-round chain-bead ornament. The top edge has an applied band of leaf-and-berry ornament with center ornaments on each side. The back panel was originally finished with yellow bole and left ungilded.