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Portrait of a Woman

Artist John Smart (English, 1741 - 1811)
Dateca. 1780
MediumWatercolor on ivory; Copper ring with yellow gold bezel and rose gold shank
DimensionsSight: 15/16 × 11/16 inches (2.38 × 1.75 cm)
Framed: 1 1/8 × 7/8 inches (2.86 × 2.22 cm)
Diameter: 3/8 inches (0.95 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Starr and the Starr Foundation, Inc.
Object numberF58-60/138
InscribedInscribed on recto, lower left: "JS."
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 128
Collections
DescriptionPortrait miniature of a woman with powdered hair before a brown background.Exhibition History
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 Woman.
Provenance

John H. Burls, New Malden, Surrey, by March 31, 1949 [1];

Purchased from his sale, Fine Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, March 31, 1949, lot 60, as A Girl, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1949–1958 [2];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes

[1] The sale was “The Property of J. H. Burls, Esq., New Malden, Surrey.” There was a John H. Burls of 11 Ancaster Crescent, New Malden, Surrey, listed in Leathergoods 103–04 (1968): 88.

[2] According to the lot description, “A Gold Ring, the oval bezel with a small Miniature of a Girl, by John Smart, signed, head and gaze three-quarters dexter, a gauze veil over her golden hair, 1 in. [See Illustration, Plate V].”

An annotated sales catalogue is located at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Miller Nichols Library and is likely annotated by Mr. or Mrs. Starr with a circled lot number and “Leggatt £36.” According to the attached price list, Leggatt bought lot 60 for £36. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files. Hogg assisted Mrs. Starr in purchasing a group of miniatures at this sale, including two by Smart (Portrait of Charles Stewart, 7th Earl of Traquair, ca. 1790 and this one. See group of letters between Martha Jane Starr and Betty Hogg, undated, box 18, folder 25, Martha Jane Starr Collection, LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Published References

Catalogue of Fine Portrait Miniatures (London: Sotheby’s, March 31, 1949), 8 (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 265, as Portrait of a Lady.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 111, p. 41, (repro.), as Unknown Woman.

Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, “John Smart, Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1780,” 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/10.37764/8322.5.1558.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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