Meet the two principal figures of the Perry Expedition. On the left we see Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry. On the right we have Henry A. Adams, Captain of the Fleet, and Perry's second in command. Adams was Captain of the flagships Mississippi, Susquehanna, and Powhatan on which Perry sailed. The artist who made this drawing may not have seen Perry personally, for Perry was extremely dignified in public. It is unlikely that he would have allowed himself to be painted in this casual pose. In addition, Perry was always clean shaven, yet here he is bewhiskered. What needs to be pointed out, however, is that the artist painted Perry and Adams as individuals. There are other portraits of Perry and Adams that showed them as stereotypical "southern barbarians" with wild-looking, unkempt hair and grotesque features. Westerners at that time had their own stereotypes of the Japanese who were seen as "uncivilized" and "heathen."

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