What’s the true face of Alexander Hamilton? Historical portrait re-creations.
While Hamilton has always been an important figure in U.S. history, his popularity in recent years has soared due to the musical, “Hamilton” finding tons of success.
The real man behind the musical was one of stubborn idealism. Many of his ideas make up the framework for the current U.S. Constitution. But some of his other ideas were considered controversial, and he made a lot of enemies during his career in politics.
After what’s known as “America’s First Sex Scandal” - the Hamilton-Reynolds affair derailed his political career, Hamilton became erratic and emotional, working against his own political party and stoking rivalries with men like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Aaron Burr.
One of these rivalries eventually got him killed - in a duel with Aaron Burr.
To learn more about his fascinating history, watch the full YouTube video here. But for now, let’s talk about what Hamilton looked like.
What did Alexander Hamilton look like?
There are dozens of depictions of Hamilton that exist for us today. In fact, he is one of the most represented American figures in monuments in the US. But not everyone agrees on which ones look the most like the real man. It’s the same issue I had with my George Washington re-creations: many portraits were made after Hamilton’s death, and probably aren’t very close to what he really looked like.
Let’s start with what we know, based on the description of a close personal friend, William Sullivan:
He was short, about 5’7”, and thin. But he had a really strong and dignified presence that made him seem larger than life. While normally looking a bit serious, he had the kind of face that could easily break out into a smile - I love that the life portraits of Hamilton show these smile lines. Sullivan says he had a light complexion, with rosy cheeks, and an “uncommonly handsome face.”
His Grandson, Allan Hamilton, noted that His blue eyes were deep set above a strong Roman nose, and he had good bone structure, with a strong chin and jaw.
He also had reddish brown hair that he often wore powdered. In my depiction, I’m showing his natural hair color without powder to give an impression of the real man.
In terms of portraits, the paintings by John Trumbull are the ones that most of us probably recognize - he painted at least 17. However, all of these were painted from just 2 portrait studies made from life.
Now, portraiture from the 1700s is kind of like a game of telephone - the original likeness existed out there somewhere, but was copied over and over, with each copy losing something of the original.
Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull. Nothing in this portrait was painted from life.
This Trumbull portrait (left) of Hamilton is probably one of the most famous, but the head was actually painted from a portrait bust made by John Jay, and then the body was completely invented. You can see how this doesn’t give much in the way of accuracy.
Trumbull portrait of Hamilton that Gertrude Atherton called the “Fat Boy Trumbull”
Trumbull painted another version that Hamilton’s biographer Gertrude Atherton referred to as the “fat boy” Trumbull. She said, “Had Hamilton looked like it he would have accomplished nothing.” Ouch, Gertrude.
Everyone in Hamilton’s life seemed to disagree about which likeness represented him the best.
Hamilton’s grandson said, the best likenesses were those by James Sharples. But then, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, said this portrait painted in 1802 by Ezra Emes, was “perfect,”
And then Hamilton himself said the best likeness came from the profile-view portrait by William Joseph Weaver.
Since side-view images are difficult for me to work from, I’ve worked from a 1796 bust by Giuseppe Cerrachi, taken from life when Hamilton was 37 years old. It’s a really highly regarded likeness. Now, Ceracchi did work in the Roman tradition, so this potentially leans towards being a little stylized, but it’s easy to see how well this image matches with other portraits of the Founding Father, and the descriptions from Hamilton’s lifetime.
