This early miniature, completed soon after John Ramage's arrival in Boston from Halifax, Nova Scotia, conveys the artist's masterful technique. Ramage's sitters are frequently turned slightly to the left, where a point of light against the dark background draws the viewer's eye to the sitter's face, which seems to be illuminated from within. Ramage models John Taylor's face with intricate networks of hatches, while simultaneously leaving areas of ivory in his eyes daringly blank to enhance the contrasts of light and dark that give substance to his flesh. Taylor's delicately patterned shirt ruffle and gold buttons—their textured edges deftly picked out in gold and brown—convey both the sitter's prosperity and the artist's personal delight in fashionable clothes. A notoriously stylish dresser, the painter impressed potential patrons with his "beauish" appearance as well as his artistic abilities. Ramage's appreciation for the tactile qualities of Taylor's coat buttons suggests the painter's skill as a metalworker who often fabricated his miniatures' gold cases. The year after the miniature's completion, the Irish-born Ramage returned to Halifax, where he enlisted in a Loyalist regiment in the Revolutionary War.