John Greenleaf Whittier

This portrait sketch by Jacques Reich depicts the American poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier in his later years. The ink drawing employs cross-hatching and linear technique to model the subject's weathered features and full beard, characteristic of 19th-century portraiture. Whittier (1807–1892) was a Quaker poet whose verse addressed themes of social reform and faith. Though he died seven years before this work was made, Reich's rendering preserves Whittier's likeness as a figure of historical significance in American letters and the antislavery movement.