Portrait of a Man
Framed: 2 5/16 × 1 13/16 inches (5.87 × 4.6 cm)
- 128
John Smart—Miniaturist: 1741/2–1811, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 9, 1965–January 2, 1966, no cat., as Gentleman.
The Starr Foundation Collection of Miniatures, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, December 8, 1972–January 14, 1973, no cat., no. 128, as Unknown Man.
John Smart: Virtuoso in Miniature, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, December 21, 2024–January 4, 2026, no cat., as Portrait of a Man.
Smart created intricately detailed and carefully observed portraits of wealthy merchants. His miniatures’ expressive features and richly textured clothing convey sitters’ personalities and circumstances. Smart often worked from sketches of his subjects, allowing him to produce later versions of his miniatures.
For much of his career, Smart was based in London, but in 1785, he moved to India. He painted there for ten years for both British employees of the East India Company and Indian royals. Works from this period are often inscribed with an “I”.
After his return to London, Smart used his meticulous style to paint larger miniatures, which were in fashion.
Possibly with I. Rosenbaum, Frankfurt, Germany, by December 14, 1910;
Possibly purchased from I. Rosenbaum by Henry (1840–1928) and Emma (née Lazarus, 1852–1937) Budge, Hamburg, Germany, December 14, 1910–1937 [1];
Purchased at Emma’s posthumous sale, Die Sammlung Frau Emma Budge Hamburg, Paul Graupe, Berlin, lot 342, October 4–6, 1937, by Erich Schall, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany, 1937 [2];
Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965.
Notes
[1] A book listing Henry Budge’s purchases from the Frankfurt dealer I. Rosenbaum contains the following entry on page 36: “1 Miniatur von J. Smart 1792. Alter Herr.” Although not definitive, this may be the Nelson-Atkins object. Although the miniature is now dated 1795, it was catalogued in the 1937 Budge auction with the date 1792. Frick Art Reference Library, New York, MS 065 Rosenberg & Stiebel Archive, “Ankäufe des Herrn Henry Budge Hamburg.” Copies in Nelson-Atkins curatorial file.
[2] The Graupe sale was originally scheduled for September 27–29, 1937, but was postponed to October 4–6, 1937. The price estimate for this miniature was 600 RM; the final sale was for 710 RM. Schall’s name appears in an annotated copy of the catalogue held by the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He also purchased lot 341. Schall was the manager of the Freie Succession artists’ group (founded by Max Liebermann) in Berlin from 1913–1918.
Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 128, p. 45, (repro.), as Unknown Man.
Blythe Sobol, “John Smart, Portrait of a Man, 1795,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 4, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1604.
