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This portrait by artist John Neagle depicts noted Philadelphia, PA attorney Huizinga 'Henry' Messchert (1808-1871), one of the wealthiest men in America. Messchert’s Philadelphia residence was near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, as well as the former residence of Thomas Sully, then the most influential portrait painter in America and John Neagle's father-in-law.
Neagle and Sully were the foremost portrait painters in Philadelphia at the time, and they made it a practice not to steal each other's customers. It is therefore interesting to note that both artists did paint Messchert’s portrait, but at different periods in his life. Sully painted Messchert from a daguerreotype in 1871, the year of Messchert’s death, while Neagle painted this representation in 1850 and a previous one in 1822 when Messchert was a student.