The Portraitist of Mid-Century America To look at the surviving works of John L. Harding is to see the faces of a specific American era. He was a painter active between 1835 and 1882, a period when portraiture functioned as the primary method of preserving identity and social standing. His work does not rely on abstract expression but on the direct, unvarnished depiction of his subjects. He operated during a time when the demand for likenesses was driven by a growing middle class seeking to cement their legacy through oil on canvas. Harding’s output was focused and disciplined. He did not cha…