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Portrait of a Woman

Artist John Smart (English, 1741 - 1811)
Dateca. 1780
MediumWatercolor and graphite on laid paper; Modern gilt frame
DimensionsSight: 2 3/16 × 1 15/16 inches (5.56 × 4.92 cm)
Sheet: 2 1/2 × 2 1/4 inches (6.35 × 5.72 cm)
Framed: 5 × 4 1/2 inches (12.7 × 11.43 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Starr and the Starr Foundation, Inc.
Object numberF58-60/140
InscribedNone
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 128
Collections
DescriptionPortrait miniature of a woman with powdered hair whose clothing is rapidly sketched, with the paper support used as the 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 Smart (1741–1811), London, by around 1783–1811;

By descent to his son, John James Smart (1805–1870), London, 1811–1870;

By descent to his daughter, Mary Ann Bose (née Smart, 1856–1934), Edinburgh, 1870–1934;

By descent to her son, William Henry Bose (1875–1957), London, 1934–1937;

Sold at his sale, Sketches and Studies for Miniature Portraits by John Smart, Christie’s, London, February 15, 1937, lot 23, as Portrait of a Lady;

Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958;

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

Published References

Sketches and Studies for Miniature Portraits by John Smart (London: Christie’s, February 15, 1937), 5.

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 (sketch).

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 146, p. 51, (repro.), as Unknown Lady.

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/10.37764/8322.5.1614.

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.


image overall
John Smart
ca. 1775
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recto overall
John Smart
ca. 1775
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John Smart
ca. 1786
F58-60/145
recto overall with frame
John Smart
February 1811
F73-33
recto overall
Richard Cosway
ca. 1790
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John Smart
October 20, 1805
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recto overall
Unknown
late 19th century
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