John Singleton Copley, Eleazer Tyng, 1772. National Gallery of Art, Gift of The Avalon Foundation 1965.6.1
Copley excelled when painting elderly men, as with this penetrating likeness of an eighty-two-year-old legislator and former frontier soldier from Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. Eleazer Tyng (1690-1782), sitting comfortably in a Windsor armchair, turns to greet the viewer. His appraising face and rugged hands are highlighted by a golden glow.