Dated 1813, this portrait of David Bradlee represents the height of the prolific Boston miniaturist William M. S. Doyle’s mature style, with glowing flesh tones set against an opaque background. The artist emerged as a miniaturist out of the American craftsman tradition. Originally a wallpaper manufacturer, he came to paint miniatures while continuing to make pastels, silhouettes, and death masks. Ever the entrepreneur, he also served as coproprietor of Boston’s Columbian Museum, a popular venue for the eclectic display of natural history curiosities, wax figures, and art.

The subject of this miniature, David Bradlee, was the son of Samuel and Ann Dunlop Bradlee. In 1813, his occupation was listed in the Boston Directory as "hardware 4 South row." On the locket’s reverse are two elegantly decorated plumes of dark and light hair, joined by gold wire and seed pearls, belonging to Bradlee and a now unidentified sweetheart. Lovers frequently exchanged locks of hair to be set in their miniatures, and this is a particularly romantic example. Sadly, not long after this love token was painted, David Bradlee died, on April 3, 1814, at the age of twenty-eight.