Henry P. Geyer

Henry P. Geyer plays in a lush, green landscape in this portrait.  Geyer wears the transitional costume for boys too mature to wear toddler dresses but too young for suits.  The front-buttoned tunic and loose trousers were designed for activity.  Yet the top hat, which rests upside down at his feet, was an accessory appropriate for a grown man.  The combination of dress and activity may indicate that the portrait was commissioned from a traveling artist working in a rural area to mark Geyer's coming of age.