Technical Notes
The support is a plain-weave canvas that has an average of sixteen threads per centimeter running both vertically and horizontally. The threads’ thickness varies, and there are some prominent slubs in the canvas fabric. The tacking edges are intact.

The moderately thick, warm white ground was evenly applied; it does not entirely hide the texture of the canvas. The canvas appears to have been commercially prepared.

In general, the paint application is thin and fluid. Harding painted the face primarily employing a wet-on-wet technique. He loosely sketched in the coat with fluid black paint and then worked it up with a range of dark grays. Brushstrokes in the coat follow the general contours of the forms. There is some low impasto in the cravat. Shadows on the cravat were achieved with the application of a warm gray mid-tone, followed by darker grays to deepen some shadow areas, and finally with opaque white for the highlights. The red curtain appears to have been painted while the background was still wet, since the edges of the curtain are feathered out into the opaque green-gray background.

There are numerous small scattered losses at the upper left. Areas of retouching are found along the top of a large slub thread that runs vertically through the sitter’s face as well as in the scattered losses. The sitter’s face appears to have been somewhat overcleaned.

Examination under ultraviolet light suggests that there is a synthetic-resin varnish on top of remnants of an older natural-resin varnish. The varnish is somewhat uneven and no longer saturates dark areas, such as the black coat.

Frame Notes
The frame consists of a gilded-softwood molding and has mitered corners with cross-spline construction. There is a thin cove at the site edge, followed by a plain flat and an applied band of alternating flower- and anthemion-leaf ornament. The outer section is a wide ogee-style molding, finished with a pebbled surface; each corner contains low-relief scroll-and-floral ornament. The back panel, which is not gilded, is finished with matte yellow paint.